Mass Effect: Ghost of the Terminus
by Reviewer543
Summary: Shepard is the infamous Ghost of the Terminus! A renegade with the heart of a paragon. Watch the legend unfold as he takes on Rogue Spectre Saren Arterius and discovers the galaxy's darkest secret. WARNING: Other media use, Paragade Shep, and Harem! DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NOR PROFIT FROM THIS. PLEASE ENJOY!
1. A nice vacation

ESTABLISHING SECURE CONNECTION

SECURE CONNECTION CONFIRMED

LOGIN NAME: John Shepard

ALIASES: LION OF ELYSIUM, SOLE SURVIVOR OF AKUZE, BUTCHER OF TORFAN, GHOST OF THE TERMINUS

ORIGIN: COLONIST SURVIVOR OF MINDOIR, LIVED AS A SPACER WITH A MERCENARY FOR 5 YEARS, LIVED ALONE ON OMEGA SINCE THEN.

NOTABLE ACHIEVMENTS: REPELLED SLAVER INVASION OF ELYSIUM, SURVIVED THRESHER MAW MASSACRE OF AKUZE, RUTHLESSLY DESTROYED SLAVERS ON TORFAN

CLASS: JUGGERNAUT- COMBINATION OF ALL CLASSES (SUPER CLASS)

FACIAL IDENTIFICATION: BLUE EYES, SHAVED MIDNIGHT BLACK HAIR, TAN SKIN, MILD 5 O'CLOCK SHADOW (DEFAULT APPEARANCE)

CONFIRM APPEARANCE?

YES

PICTURE:

"Hey Shepard what do want for file picture?" Isaac asks.

"Why do I need a picture?" Shepard asks.

"Just pick one!" Isaac says.

"Fine! Damn! Here!" Shepard says.

Shepard in his Ghost outfit in the ME 3 pose with an omni-blade on his left arm, an assault rifle in his right, and a biotic aura surrounding him.

"There, happy?" Shepard goes

"Much."

"Okay lets get to Eden Prime then!" Shepard said eager to go.

On the way to Eden Prime

Shepard was in a depression. For a few years he was in a relationship with Liselle. He loved every minute with her. It was like every bad thing in his life never happened when they were together. He always complimented her, treated her right, never neglected her, always got her gifts when she least expected it and he was very confident about pleasing her sexually considering they fucked around 3 times a day and she started it. What he did not understand was why she suddenly broke it off. Was he boring her? Did Aria make her do it? And the worst one: Did she find someone else? That one was what Shepard feared the most. Someone he cared about throwing him away like he was nothing and for someone better. That is the most humiliating and painful thing a man can go through. Just before Aria told him to go take a vacation, Liselle had met up with him...

_Flashback_

_"John.." Liselle said lacking her usual upbeat personality when she saw him. She looked real stressed out for some reason. Almost as if she got some very bad news._

_"Hey Lis, is something wrong? Are you okay?" Shepard asked concerned for his girlfriend. For a second he could have sworn he had seen a smile start to appear on her face before she spoke up._

_"John we have to break up." Liselle said shocking John._

_"B-Break up? Lis what is it? You can tell me whats wrong." John said desperately hoping this was a bad dream._

_"I can't tell you why. All I can say is its not you it's me ok?" Liselle said with her voice cracking._

_"But Lis..." John said feeling his heart break. He desperately wanted to speak up, he really did but the words were not coming out._

_"Goodbye John." Liselle said as she walked away from him leaving him alone in his house._

_Flashback end_

That night Shepard had drunk himself into unconsciousness. Luckily Isaac had the good sense to lock him in the house before he could do something stupid. After getting over a hangover that could fell an elcor he went to talk to Aria to ask if she knew why Liselle broke up. He knew if she wanted the space she would have it, but he would like to know the reason why his heart was broken. He and Aria talked about it, Aria mentioned that Liselle looked like she had seen a monster or something a few days ago, neither one of them really knowing why this happened, but both agreed it was best to let Liselle have her space. After that, Aria gave him a little vacation time to sort himself out since he, in her words "Smelled like a brewery on fire." With that he and Isaac picked a planet for their vacation and left Omega the next day. Just before he left he sent 2 messages out. One to Aria saying he is going on his trip. The second one went Liselle saying where he was going and that he wishes her well.

Aria's message was simple "Don't get into too much trouble"

Liselle's message brought a smile to his face, "Be safe and come home soon."

To Shepard that meant she still cared about him. That meant the world to him. All his life his mother had said that the only thing bigger than his brains was his heart. He felt a lot of things. Most of them bad and only a few good. To know she still cared made his depression lessen a lot.

"Well, lets get to Eden Prime Isaac, I'd like to relax on a paradise again." Shepard asked Isaac.

"On our way, Shepard." Isaac responded. The Judgement soared through space toward Eden Prime Unaware of what will happen.

Eden Prime

Shepard had landed on Eden Prime happy about being on a colony that was regarded as a paradise. He had just gotten off his ship was docked and locked up so no one can get in. Unfortunately, there was a group of soldiers there when he got off. He had his armor part on, but not the cloak or hood so they wouldn't recognize him as Ghost. That did not stop them from noticing him as he walked by though.

"Hey you!" called out a female officer in a white and pink came up to him.

"Yes?" He responded.

"Why do you have such heavy weaponry on you? This is a peaceful colony that doesn't need trouble." The unknown woman stated, brown eyes boring into his blue ones.

"Before I answer, how about we introduce ourselves first, it is a courtesy after all." Shepard said with confidence in his voice. The soldier seemed shocked that he wasn't in the least bit intimidated by her.

"Gunnery Chief Williams of the 212. You?" Williams said

"Shepard, a freelancing merc on his vacation. Don't worry I'm not here to cause trouble, just to take a few days to relax." Shepard responded with a calm voice. The other soldiers seemed to scowl at him after he said he was a merc. Apparently soldiers did't like mercenaries too much around here. Who knew?

"You had better cause trouble here mercenary. Or we will make you wish you never landed here in the first place." Williams warned him in a strict voice.

'This chick has a hard on for the military huh? I could get in trouble.' Shepard thought to himself while nodding at her. That was when he started walking toward the colony.

'Well this is a shitty start. One foot on the ground and I already have people mad at me. Sheesh.' Shepard said as he went to the nearest inn, motel or whatever they had on colonies for temporary visitors.

Later that night

Shepard had donned his Ghost outfit with the mask and cloak now and he decided to go to the bar to have a drink. He really wanted to test out his straw that he added to his mask to see if it worked properly. He was now sitting in the bar happily enjoying a Tasty Tankard sipping through his straw. He then heard Williams and her team come in and they started drinking and having fun. He was listening to some guy called Sergeant Donkey trying to seduce Williams until an officer came in with 2 of his followers, telling them about a beacon. That was when the guy got into William's face. He only caught a little of it.

"Your friends might not see it. But I do. You can't escape you past Williams." The asshole said with venom when Williams came out. Did she do something wrong? Was there something with her name he did not like?

"If you say so sir." Williams said in a tight voice.

"I just did." The guy responded. Okay it was time to mess with this guy now.

_**"Sounds like someone is being an ass."**_Ghost said out loud so everyone can hear it. That was when the guy came up behind him, grabbed him by his shoulder and said to the side of his mask.

"Who do you think you are?" The guy growled out.

_**"Just someone who is curious as to why someone is getting into another's face with an attitude like yours."**_Ghost said not afraid at all.

"Do you know who she is? She is Ashley Williams. Granddaughter to General Williams." The guy said so everyone could hear it. Ashley now looked miserable. Well lets see if we can fix that.

**_"Am I suppose to care to know who that is?"_** Ghost responded. The guy just laughed

"Well no I suppose not, in fact its better he is forgotten I guess." He laughed along with his 2 flunkies. Ashley looked ready to murder someone right now as did her team. They were about to get up when Ghost voice brought silence.

_**"Then why do you** **care?"**_Ghost said to the man. The guy stopped laughing along with his flunkies and looked at him strangely as did everyone else.

"What?" the guy asked.

_**"Why do you care about it that see fit to hold it over her and insult her with it?"**_Ghost said ready to mess with this guy.

"Because she is a Williams, a bunch stains on the Alliance!" the guy shouted at him now.

_**"What did he do that was so**** bad?"**_Ghost asked aloud. the guy responded, "He-" When Ghost cut him off.

_**"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to her."**_ Ghost said as he pointed to Ashley. Everyone was shocked at how fast he dismissed the guy and turned his attention to her. She immediately responded with what happened to her Grandfather and why the Williams name isn't popular.

_**"Why did he surrender?"** _Ghost asked.

"I think it was because he was outmatched and out manned. He knew he and his men would not win." She replied bitterly The guy was about to start ragging on her again when Ghost said something that shocked everyone.

_**"Sounds like a hero and real leader to** **me."** _was what he said.

"What?! What do you mean?!" The guy said outraged.

_**"He cared about his men more than the mission, more than his reputation and more than everyone else's opinions. In surrendering this one time he probably saved more lives than by fighting. A real leader watches out for those he leads, not the mission or goal. Yet you insult his memory and his family. General Williams was 5 times the man you will ever be you pathetic sack of shit!"**_Ghost said with venom to the man. That was when the guy pulled on his hood.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the guy said throwing a punch towards Ghost's head, only for the hand to be grabbed by the wrist and twisted at a very painful angle making the guy go to his knees. The guys flunkies were about ready to jump in until Ghost got up still holding the man.

_**"You wanna know who I am?"** _He lifted his head up so everyone can see his face. _**"I'm**_** Ghost!"** he said as he kicked the man in the face knocking the bastard out. The 2 idiots then jumped to attack him only for them to caught into a biotic grasp. They struggled for awhile until Ghost slammed both of them together knocking them out. He then left, but not before noticing Ashley sending him a grateful smile his way. He nodded to her as he left.

2 days later

Shepard was walking back to his ship ready to go home to Omega. It had been a relaxing vacation. Just what he needed: no real fights, no death, no destruction, just peace and quiet. Then the area suddenly got very dark and then the Judgement exploded in a flash of light which knocked Shepard of his feet. He quickly got back up only to see his ship in flames and geth running around in the distance.

"ISAAAAACCCC!" Shepard screamed.


	2. Eden Prime in flames

Recap: "ISAAAAACCCC!" Shepard screamed.

Now

After screaming his head off, he bolted to his ship's wreckage desperate to see if Isaac was still alive.

"ISAAC!" Shepard yelled out looking for anything that may tell him if Isaac was alive. Then all of the sudden he heard Isaac.

"Whew, that was close! Thought I wouldn't make it for a second there." He heard Isaac's voice but couldn't find him at all.

"Isaac where are you?" Shepard asked looking around for him.

"Look down." Isaac said. Shepard looked down and noticed his omni-tools were on.

"Isaac? Are you in my omni-tools?" Shepard asked cautiously.

"Yep. Right at the moment when that ship targeted the Judgment, I transferred myself to your omni-tools." Isaac explained

"Ship? What ship?" Shepard confused. He was sure it was a bomb that had detonated which had destroyed his ship.

"Shepard, look up." Isaac said in a… nervous voice? What would he be nervous about-

"What the fuck is that?!" Shepard exclaimed as he looked at enormous ship that had blocked out the sun. It was massive in scope. The metal had a violet tint to it and was shaped like a squid or a cuttlefish. It had lights going in a pattern all around it. The crazy part was it had geth ships flying around it! They had not been seen outside the veil in centuries!

"Shepard, I would advise that you suit up." Isaac said. Shepard immediately walked toward the armored crate that survived the ship's destruction. Last night Shepard had put his Ghost outfit along with all his guns. As he unlocked the crate he took out his onyx X medium armor with a shield modulator, energized weave, and a medical exoskeleton, all X class. He had all his weapons too: Kovalyov rifle X, Sokolov shotgun X with a spare, Volkov Sniper rifle, and a Karpov pistol X with a spare. He finally put on his Ghost mask and the cloak with the hood up. He loaded them all up with Tungsten rounds, VII series. He also equipped them all with kinetic coils X and frictionless materials X sohe could do more damage and shoot more. Now he was ready to take the fight to the geth now.

"Shepard, I've taken the liberty to giving your suit combat optics level X. The geth should not be able to jam your scanners now unless they were prepared to deal with commando units. I will monitor it and keep you informed of anything coming our way." Isaac informed him. Ghost could not help but grin. Isaac had been a blessing when he had created him. He had been a friend to him and was there for him when he started his crusades against the slavers.

"_**Well Isaac, let's go save some people."**_ Ghost said as he took off in the direction of where the most smoke was coming from ready for anything.

A few minutes later

Ghost had arrived on a cliff overlooking the destruction when a strange ship had come overhead. It wasn't a geth ship obviously, it had the name Normandy SR-1 on the side. Suddenly the cargo bay opened up and two men jumped out pointing their guns at him. The one on the left, Ghost did not know. The one on the right he knew immediately.

"_**Alenko?!"**_ Ghost said

"Ghost?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Alenko asked him

"_**I was on vacation until this happened. Who's the kid."**_ Ghost explained a little happy. It was good to see a familiar face in a place like this. He was curious about the guy standing next to Alenko.

"This is Jenkins." Was all Alenko said. That was when Jenkins piped up.

"Wow! You are the Ghost! Now I know things are going to be awesome!" Jenkins said with an excitement of a 5 year old child seeing their hero for the first time.

"Hey Jenkins! Cool it! An overexcited mind gets killed in places like this!" Alenko chastised Jenkins.

"Sorry sir, just excited about proving myself here." Jenkins replied sheepish. That was when Ghost decided to calm the guy down.

"_**Jenkins the key to being successful in missions like this is to keep a cool head and a cooler trigger finger."**_ Ghost said hoping that the boy would take his advice seriously.

"Easy for you to say Ghost. You proved yourself several times over on Elysium, Akuze and Torfan. Everyone knows what you can do. This is my big chance." Jenkins replied. That was when Ghost decided to makes things clear to him.

"_**Listen kid, all that stuff I did, it was never for a reputation. Each and every one of those battles cost a lot of lives especially on Torfan, ask Alenko here. He was there. Going into a fight while thinking of glory or honor will most likely get you killed before anyone else. If not then your squadmates will suffer then."**_ Ghost told the boy what he needed him to hear. Jenkins got real quiet after that. He even looked a little ashamed of himself. Looking at the scene before him, Alenko couldn't help but sigh.

"Look, patch your radio into this channel and come with us you don't know what's out there." Alenko said. Ghost only patched into their channel then left to scout out ahead.

"_**I'll scout ahead Alenko just watch my 6 ok?"**_ Ghost said as he moved ahead. After moving through some trees and past burnt corpses he saw someone very familiar running from something. It was Ashley Williams of the 212 and she was running from geth drones. Ghost almost jumped in until he saw her shoot them down which cleared his line of sight to see 2 geth sticking a colonist on some metal pedestal. A second later the colonist was impaled by a giant spike shooting out of the pedestal.

'_**Jesus! What the hell are they doing that for?!'**_ He could immediately tell why Ashley was afraid of them now. He noticed she had hidden behind a boulder and her rifle out. He then decided to kill the geth as quick as he could. He took his rifle out after using overload on both of them and gunned them without difficulty. After the little skirmish was over Ashley poked her head out and saw the same guy who had defended her a few nights ago.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley-" Ashley tried to say to Ghost.

"_**Look I know who you are, what I want to know is if you are alright, Ash." **_Ghost interrupted her. Ashley was a little thrown off by the way he addressed her.

"Do we know each other well enough for you talk to me like that?" Ashley asked him. Ghost froze for a minute at that.

"_**I did defend you a few days ago. That guy did after all blurt your name out. So are you okay?"**_ Ghost replied.

"Yea I'm fine Ghost thanks." Ash said thankfully he had saved her. That was when Alenko came running up… alone.

"_**Alenko, what happened to Jenkins?"**_ Ghost asked noticing that the boy wasn't with him. Alenko just shook his head.

"Drones shot right threw him and his shields." Alenko said sadly. Ghost felt sadness over the boy's death. He knew the second he saw him, he was green to battle and war. Poor kid. That's why he told him that stuff earlier.

"_**We'll be sure to give him a proper burial afterwards okay."**_ Ghost said trying to lighten the situation if only a little. Kaiden just nodded. He was silently grateful that Ghost cared enough to say that, false or genuine.

"_**Okay you both come with me. We have to check if anyone is still alive in the colony."**_ Ghost said already walking towards the colony.

"That's unlikely Ghost." Ashley said. Ghost stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned to her and said, _**"That doesn't mean you give up until you see for yourself Williams."**_ Ashley looked at him shocked at how he had spoken to her. He then continued walking with them following at a distance. After moving a hundred feet they came in contact with several geth troopers. Ghost took out his assault rifle and command Ash and Alenko to take cover and start using their weapons. Ash started using her avenger rifle and kaiden used a pistol and his biotics. Ghost used overload on several of them while Kaiden attacked used pistol on them. Ghost then used warp on the ones Ash was shooting at. After taking care of the geth they walked to a structure of ruins or something. That was when Ash spoke up.

"The beacon was right here! I don't understand." She said

"Williams, you're not suppose to say that in front of him." Kaiden yelled at her.

"_**Beacon? What are you talking about?"**_Ghost asked. That was when they explained about the prothean beacon. Why Alenko and Jenkins were on the planet. Why that guy had come into the bar that night. Why Eden Prime was under attack.

"_**So that's what this is all about. Well doesn't matter now, let's go."**_ Ghost stated. With that they trekked up the hill and came to see more of those spikes with people on them. Something was off about the people on them though. Unlike the other colonist these were shriveled, glowing and had what looked like implants or cybernetics. That was when the spikes came down with the bodies laying on the now flat pedestal. Ghost looked on as he watched.

'_**Why did the spikes suddenly go down? It obviously doesn't sense the colonist's heartbeats or anything obviously so what-'**_ Ghost thought until he saw the bodies moving.

"Oh god! They're still alive!" Kaiden said as he saw them.

"What did the geth do to them?!" Ash yelled out.

"_**They're not alive, their bodies are being controlled! Gun them down!"**_ Ghost yelled to them as he started shooting at them. Ash and Kaiden soon joined in. These things were scary but weaker than the geth were by a long shot. As long as you kept your distance from them they were not a threat. Then one got close to Ghost and it let loose something like an EMP burst. He responded with using warp on it to rip it to pieces. They continued on to some colony prefabs and noticed one of the doors was locked.

"_**Kaiden go unlock that door over there, Williams cover him! I'm going on ahead."**_ Ghost said as he walked in the direction to the spaceport. They went over to the door and began to hack it. Ghost walked until he came to scene that was overlooked a tramstation to the port. He also noticed that giant ship starting to fly off into the space. He then looked over and saw two turians talking. Ghost took out his sniper rifle and looked at the two. One was wearing black and pink armor with spectre weapons. The other turian unsettled him. This one was white, had no markings, a synthetic arm and cybernetic implants. That was when he noticed the first one turn his back to the second. The white one then took out a pistol and aimed it at the first to the back of the head. Thinking fast he aimed his sniper at the gun in the white one's hand and fired. The shot dislodged the pistol from the white one's hand causing the first turian to turn around and look at what happened. Then the white one attacked the first one and the two duked it out until the white turian had used his synthetic arm to jab straight through the first one's armor. Ghost had tried to make it to the fight but was helped up by several geth as well as those things… those husks. The white turian looked on as the masked human fought several geth and husks and was winning. He then took off to the tram to where the beacon was.

'The human will be killed along with any others when we detonate the bombs.' The white turian thought.

Back with Ghost

Ghost had finished mopping up the husks and geth as he made his way to the downed turian. The turian was still alive and looked at him.

"W-who a-are you?" the turian asked him as he gasped from the wound in his side.

"_**I'm Ghost."**_ He said.

"Ah, Aria's spectre equivalent. What are you doing here? Aria send you after the beacon?" the turian asked him.

"_**No, in fact I just heard about it myself. Don't really have much interest in prothean tech. Who are you?"**_ Ghost replied as he applied medi-gel to the wound.

"I'm Nihlus, council spectre. The turian I fought was Saren, a rouge council spectre." Nihlus explained.

"_**Never met a spectre before. Well stay here, two human soldiers will be on their way shortly they will provide assistance. When you can, come along with them and help. I'm going to say 'Hi' to this Saren guy."**_ Ghost said leaving toward the tram. As he got on he came up against several geth. He quickly used his Sniper Rifle with his adrenaline rush and sniped them out as fast as he could then made his way to the tram.

With Saren

Saren stood in front of the activated beacon. He then turned to the geth beside him.

"Arm to bombs, destroy the colony, leave no trace we were here." He said to the geth. He then turned back to the beacon as the geth trooper went to arm the bombs. Saren stepped toward the beacon and was picked up by a force…

With Ghost

He had just arrived to the port and had started shooting geth left and right with his rifle as well as his pistol. He used his rifle on the groups of geth while he used the pistol to take out single geth units. After taking care of them he noticed the bombs. He quickly moved to disable them when Nihlus, Kaidan, and Ash had come. He told them to take care of the bombs as he moved to where Saren was. As he arrived to the loading zone he saw Saren be let down after hovering a little off the ground.

"So the human comes to fight me while ignoring the bombs?" Saren said as he turned around to face Ghost.

"_**Well I wouldn't say I ignored them. I just entrusted others with them. Besides I've never fought a Spectre before, could be fun."**_ Ghost responded to the rouge spectre. They glared at each other for a few seconds. Suddenly, they ran at each other and clashed. Ghost used omni-tool fists while Saren used his talons covered in biotic energy. As they battled Ghost jumped and kicked Saren in mid-air, bouncing of him while doing a back flip and jumped forward this time back-handing the rouge spectre with his omni-tool right in the face sending Saren back a couple of feet. Then Ghost biotically leaped into the air with his omni-blade out ready to strike Saren down. Saren quickly shot a biotic throw at Ghost sending him flying back, crashing in to a pile of crates. Saren decided to retreat when he noticed the bomb signals go off. He quickly got on his hovercraft and flew towards where his ship was. Ghost quickly got out his pistol and ran toward Saren's direction firing until his pistol overheated. Saren had gotten away…for now. A few minutes later the others came to see what had happened.

"What happened to Saren?" Nihlus asked Ghost.

"_**He got away. He had some hovercraft thing that he rode to make his escape."**_ Ghost explained pissed off. He had just faced off against someone who reminded him of the slavers who attacked his home, but worse. This guy had an army behind him this time.

"Why are you here then Ghost? Why are you really here?" Alenko asked him with Nihlus watching as well.

"_**Believe it or not I was here on vacation. Aria gave me some time off. I was suppose to go back today, but my ship was destroyed."**_ Ghost explained why he was on Eden Prime. They seemed to accept this. That was when Ghost saw Ashley being pulled toward the beacon. He moved quickly, tackled her and threw her out of the way. Now he was caught in it.

"Ghost!" Ashley screamed as she tried to help him. Alenko held her back though.

"No don't touch him we can't do anything now!" Alenko said as he and Nihlus watched Ghost be taken by the unseen force.

Ghost was now feeling an intense burning in his head now as he levitated in front of the beacon. Now he was seeing visions, horrible visions. Of death, of genocide. People where running from something, they were strange, had four eyes and mushroom-like shaped heads. Then he saw metal being welded to flesh. He could hear the screams of pain, horror and despair. And then the beacon exploded sending him flying toward the ground and knocking him out.

As his consciousness faded he could hear Alenko going, "We have injured, need immediate evac." He could feel two three fingered hands hoist him up. He then heard Ash go, "Ghost don't you dare die on me!" She sounded pretty scared. Then he went unconscious. After that the visions started up again and replayed into an eternal loop.


	3. Unmasked

Recap: As his consciousness faded he could hear Alenko going, "We have injured, need immediate evac." He could feel two three fingered hands hoist him up. He then heard Ash go, "Ghost don't you dare die on me!" She sounded pretty scared. Then he went unconscious. After that the visions started up again and replayed into an eternal loop.

Now

Anderson was in the Normandy's medbay as he looked on at the figure that the ground team had brought in from. He had not thought he would see this person again after Torfan. Anderson had heard that he was still active in the Terminus, in fact the Alliance was still trying to find Ghost and recruit him into the military. Unfortunately, Ghost had been incredibly illusive. He could remember how some recruiters had been lucky enough to find him, or perhaps he had let them, and tried to recruit him. He always gave the same answer: No. When more of the jaded or serious ones tried to force him into joining, Ghost would break one of their arms and any escorts would be beaten down fast. Now Ghost was unconscious in his medbay. Anderson looked at the medical officer, Doctor Karin Chakwas.

"Make sure he is well taken care of doctor. He needs to explain what happened on Eden Prime." Anderson told Chakwas.

"Yes Captain. He is in good hands." Chakwas responded as she got to work examining Ghost. That was when Nihlus, Ashley, and Kaiden walked into the medbay to see Anderson watching Chakwas start removing Ghost's outfit. When she removed his mask, everyone had various thoughts to seeing his face.

'So that is what he looks like' Anderson and Kaiden thought

'So that is the face of Aria's spectre equivalent.' Nihlus thought to himself. The spectres as well as the Council had been looking for Ghost since they had heard his reputation. The councilors had various reasons for seeing Ghost. The turian councilor, Sparatus, was looking for Ghost to see what was so special about the human. He had been skeptical about the stories of the human that freed people taken by slavers. The salarian councilor, Valern, wanted him taken to be studied. He knew that Ghost was no ordinary human with his tactics and biotics along with the things he did. He also knew Ghost had someone helping him behind the scenes. The question was who? With the asari councilor, Tevos, he could not find out. He could only guess why she would want to find Ghost.

'Wow, so that is what Ghost looks like.' Ash thought to herself. To her, he was handsome in a soldier like way.

Chakwas was now removing his armor and cloak. The man before her was well built, like he had trained everyday. He had been wearing black fatigues so it was easy to get his armor. Chakwas had now been researching Ghost's blood, mind, and anything else. As she looked at his blood work, she noticed something strange. She turned to Anderson.

"Captain Anderson, look at this." Chakwas said to Anderson. Anderson walked over a saw what looked to be Ghost's genetic structure that Chakwas put on the overhead monitor.

"What am I looking at here doctor?" Anderson asked confused.

"His genetic structure is slightly different than others. It has additions that seem to make his biotics stronger, his muscles more durable and stronger, even helps increase his intellect and learning capability." Chakwas explained to everyone. They all turned to look at Ghost, shocked at this news. From what it sounds like the guy was supposed to be some kind of super soldier.

"Did he go through genetic therapy or something." Kaiden asked.

"No, by looks of this, it has been in his DNA structure for a very long time. Probably at a very young age, he might not know it himself." Chakwas continued to say. Now Nihlus knew that Valern would definitely want to study him in some lab, an STG base most likely.

"What I do not understand is this sequence of genomes in his DNA right here." Chakwas said she pointed toward a screen with Ghost's DNA showing. What she was pointing at was an odd anomaly in his DNA structure. It had actually surrounded his DNA structure and looked similar to a synthetic structure meant to hold it together or protect it. It was really strange. That was when Ashley noticed Ghost had started moving around almost as if...

"Doctor! Doctor Chakwas! I think he's waking up." Ashley said and everyone turned to look at Ghost who's eyes had finally opened.

"Ughh." Shepard groaned. He felt terrible and exhausted.

"How are you feeling Ghost?" Chakwas asked him. Shepard froze, then quickly turned to see the 3 who were on Eden Prime with him, some middle-aged lady with grey hair and Anderson. He then realized that the doctor had asked him a question.

"I feel shitty. Who are you?" Shepard said. In response he got a flick on his forehead.

"Watch your language here! You can call me Doctor Chakwas." she said after hitting him.

"What was that for crazy lady!" Shepard said rubbing his forehead. Flicks didn't hurt much but they were annoying on the head if enough force was used. Chkwas responded by kicking him in the shin for the crazy lady comment.

"The flick was for cursing, the kick was for the 'crazy lady' comment, and you also haven't told us your name." Chakwas answered, explained and stated at the same time. Shepard was nursing his shin. Who knew a small lady like her could hurt him like that?

"Okay fine Doc, I apologize for 'crazy lady' comment." Shepard said. Chakwas eased up on that.

"I'm not apologizing for my language though, your are not my mother." Shepard said with a cheeky grin. That was when Chakwas got out a needle of lemon juice and a scalpel.

"It was a joke Doc! Just a joke!" Shepard said quickly scooting away from what he wanted to call 'Doctor Sadist'

"Good boy. Now whats your name?" Chakwas said putting the needle and scalpel away. Anderson and the others were looking at how fast the situation changed in shock. They had never seen Chakwas act like that to anyone. Must be because Ghost was non-alliance personnel.

"You took my mask off huh? Well you can call me Shepard if you want." Shepard told them. Anderson was now shocked at that name. that was one of the few names of people who had not been found after the Mindoir attack. Over the years the Alliance had tried to narrow down Ghost's identity with his connection to Mindoir. The little boy John Shepard was on the list of suspects since no one had seen him since.

'So he was a little boy on Mindoir when it was attacked. The things he must have gone through.' Anderson thought to himself. He was saddened that the man in front of him had lost so much at a young age. Other thoughts were whirling in his mind though. Where had he been all this time? Why didn't he enlist, it would have helped early on? How did he survive? Anderson schooled his features for a debriefing.

"Shepard we need you tell us what happened on Eden Prime." Anderson said to Shepard.

"Well Anderson..." Shepard then continued on to why he was on Eden Prime, how his ship was destroyed, running into Kaiden and Ashley, then saving Nihlus. After that he explained what happened with his fight with Saren. Shepard noticed Anderson's face gained a dark look.

"How long was I out anyway?" Shepard asked.

"Around 15 hours Shepard." Chakwas stated.

"Its my fault. When I approached the beacon I must have set off some kind of security field. You had to push me out of the way." Ashley said. Shepard stared at her and noticed she seemed to be beating herself up over it. He decided to alleviate her of her guilt.

"Look, you didn't know what was going to happen, we can't change it so there is no use feeling guilty over it. Besides I'm fine. Though I think it would have been better if you took me to a hospital on Eden Prime instead of here. At the least I wouldn't have to deal with her." Shepard said pointing to Chakwas. Ashley blushed and smiled a little with how Shepard had taken it easy on her when he could snapped at her. That was when Shepard noticed Chakwas had taken out the scalpel again.

"Chakwas, it was a joke to cheer her up! Come on!" Shepard said a little nervous. That was when the needle came out.

"Come on Doc you can't take a joke?" Kaiden said. Chakwas then turned to him with an eerie look in her eyes.

"On second thought, what Shepard said was kind of rude." Kaiden said looking scared. Shepard gave him a betrayed look as Chakwas turned to him. She then approached Shepard slowly. Without warning Shepard freaked.

"STAY BACK!" He yelled and used stasis on her. Everyone looked at him in shock.

"What? You saw what she was doing. Anyone else and I might have killed them." Shepard defended himself. Anderson couldn't help but sigh. Shepard had not changed at all with his antics.

"Shepard, did the beacon show you anything before it exploded." Nihlus asked.

"Yea actually it did. It showed me... something a vision." Shepard said uncertain.

"A vision? A vision of what?" Anderson asked him. Shepard was quiet at first. In that time the stasis on Chakwas had ended and she settled on glaring at Shepard, but he didn't notice. Everyone was starting to worry when he spoke up.

"I saw... I'm not sure what I saw. Death? Destruction? Synthetics killing organics. I think I saw something about the prothean's demise." Shepard said shocking all of them.

"Hmmm. We will have to report this to the council." Anderson said.

"And what? Tell them I had a bad dream? You know they won't believe a human, much less me Anderson." Shepard said making everyone silently agree with him.

"Maybe we can get them to revoke Saren's spectre status." Anderson said hopeful.

"Yeaaaa. I'm not going Anderson. I have a condition." Shepard said. Everyone looked at him concerned now.

"What do you have maybe Shepard?" Chakwas asked him out of concern.

"I'm allergic to politicians and their bullshit." Shepard said with all seriousness.

"You are going to go testify do you understand." Chakwas said pulling out a thermometer from out of nowhere.

"Yes ma'am." Shepard said standing ram rod straight scared of what Chakwas would do to him if he said no. Everyone was laughing or snickering at him now at his reaction to Chakwas' fear tactic. Looking at the 2 of them was like looking at a mother and son interacting with each other. Anderson decided too take things to the Citadel.

"Okay Shepard go tell Joker to go pull us into dock." Anderson told him.

"Two things Anderson: Whose Joker? and Why do I have to talk to him?" Shepard asked confused

"Cause after this, I'm hiring you to take down Saren, in case things do not go well with the Council we will need someone who can take him on. You proved that on Eden Prime." Anderson explained.

"Fine, since I know you well enough you get a 50 percent discount." Shepard said getting up.

"How much?" Anderson asked nervous about the price Shepard wanted.

"500,000 credits." Shepard said freaking everyone, but Anderson out at the price. He was expecting something heavier than that.

"Okay deal." Anderson said happy that it was a 50% discount.

"Okay I'm going now." Shepard said heading up the stairs. As he got to the CIC he noticed everyone was looking at him. He froze looking at everyone and then just kept walking toward the cockpit until he got stopped by a grey-haired man who was dressed in his dress blue uniform.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"It's customary to tell your name first, but I am Shepard or Ghost as I am called sometimes." Shepard said casually. That was when everyone was looking at him in shock.

"What?" Shepard said. That was when the guy in front of him grabbed his hand and Started shaking it.

"It is an honor to meet the man who saved Elysium, Sir. I'm Navigator Charles Pressly. I was there at Elysium serving on the SSV Agincourt. We had seen footage of you in action against the slavers." Pressly said excited.

"Thank you for the compliment, but it wasn't just me who saved Elysium. There were others who helped." Shepard said blushing under the praise. He never was used to the praise he got for his deeds.

"Well sir, you played a very pivotal part in the battle. You became an inspiration for people all over the Alliance." Pressly said.

"Well thank you Pressly. I appreciate the thanks. Listen, Anderson told me to talk to someone named Joker." Shepard said.

"Oh Joker is the pilot in the cockpit over there." Pressly said pointing to the cockpit.

"Thank you." Shepard said making his way to the cockpit. As he made his way over he could see Joker in the pilot seat. Joker was wearing the Alliance standard fatigues as well as a cap. He had a beard from he could tell from his angle of approach. As he came up to him he began to speak.

"Hello, are you Joker?" Shepard asked.

"Yea, who is asking." Joker asked before he looked at who was talking to him.

"My name is Shepard or Ghost as some call me." Shepard responded. That was when Joker froze staring at him.

"Now what? Cat got your tongue?" Shepard asked.

"How do you know my name?" Joker asked a little wierded out.

"Anderson told me." Shepard said as he stuck his hand out for a handshake. Joker just looked at it but didn't shake it.

"What's wrong? Not into handshakes?" Shepard asked.

"Its not that, I have a sickness called vorlik syndrome which pretty much makes my bones brittle and very easy to break." Joker explained.

"Then why are you flying the ship." Shepard asked confused. He didn't mean to offend, he honestly didn't, but Joker took it that way.

"Hey, I earned all my commendations. I'm not good, I'm not even great. I'm the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet. Put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance, just don't ask me to dance unless you enjoy the sound of snapping shinbones." Joker told him.

"Sorry Joker, I didn't mean to offend you honestly." Shepard said. Joker looked at him for a few seconds and noticed that he was genuinely sorry about it.

"Alright, its okay. Look did you come to tell me something or just to have girl talk." Joker said grinning at him. Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at Joker he knew he was going to get along with Joker if stayed on board the Normandy.

"Yea, Anderson told me to tell you to bring us into dock. Also if you don't want to shake hands then lets do a fist bump. We won't have to punch, just tap. Sound good?" Shepard said putting out his fist. Joker took his own fist and gently bumped.

"Awesome. Ya know Shepard, I think you and I will get along just fine." Joker said

"You and me both." Shepard responded.

With Saren

The gigantic ship sailed through the empty void that was space. Inside Saren was thinking up his next move in his plan to find the conduit when he heard his partner approach.

"Ahem. We identified the ship that touched down on Eden Prime. The Normandy, a Human Alliance vessel, it was under the command of Captain Anderson, they saved the colony." the voice said in a controlled tone.

"And the beacon?" Saren asked.

"We believe the human who fought you may have used it." his accomplice said. That tipped Saren over the edge. In rage he lept out of his seat and started hitting things randomly, causing them to fly into the air, a few almost hitting his accomplice. He then walked toward his accomplice and put his talons on her face.

"Find out more about this human and have him eliminated." Saren commanded his partner, Matriarch Benezia T'soni.

Back on the Normandy

The Normandy was just pulling into the Citadel's docks, as Ashley, Shepard and Kaiden looked out the window.

"Look at the size of that ship!" Ashley said in wonder.

"The Destiny Ascension, flag ship of the Citadel Fleet." Kaiden said.

"Well size isn't everything." Joker said.

"Why so touchy Joker?" Ashley teased.

"Just saying you need firepower too." Joker responded.

"Look at that monster! It's main gun could rip through the barriers of any ship in the Alliance fleet." Ashley stated.

"Good thing it's on our side then." Kaiden stated back. Shepard wasn't impressed. Sure the Citadel was beautiful and all but that was it. He heard Joker talking with the dock operators when he decided to voice his thoughts of what was to come.

"Well now we are going to face the most evil force in the galaxy." Shepard said with everyone turning to him. That was when Anderson came up.

"I didn't know my Ex-wife was here." He said bemused. Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at it.

"Okay the second most evil force in the galaxy: Politics." Shepard stated.

"What do have against politics, Shepard?" asked Nihlus coming up to see the citadel.

"I have a personal definition for politics that would explain it if you are interested Nihlus." Shepard said.

"Sure." Nihlus said with everyone nodding curious as to what Shepard's definition was.

"Okay Politics. It comes in 2 words: Poly the latin word meaning many; and tics which are blood sucking leaches." Shepard said getting everyone to chuckle at him.

"Captain, can we keep him please. I could probably use a challenge." Joker said. Everyone was laughing now.


	4. Talking with the big wigs

Recap: You all saw what happened.

Now

The Normandy had just pulled into dock at the Citadel, but before he could get off, Shepard was presented with a problem by Anderson.

"What do you mean I can't go out until I wear that?" Shepard asked.

"Look, your armor has been broken. Saren will find out who you are since your mask is broken too, you need armor and this is better than your old armor." Anderson explained. The armor that he was trying to get Shepard to wear was Onyx Heavy Armor X. Now Shepard would have taken this with no problem at all if there wasn't something on it.

"What's with the red stripe and N7 logo on it?" Shepard said pointing to them. Anderson sighed.

"The N7 is a program we put only the most gifted soldiers through for elite training. The red stripe signifies the human blood spilt in service to humanity." Anderson explained.

"You got any other armors I could wear? I don't want my armor saying I'm something I'm not." Shepard said. Anderson raised an eyebrow.

"Shepard, after the crap you went through on Elysium, Akuze, and Torfan you would already be an N7. Now the only other armor we got is this light phoenix armor if you are okay with that-" Anderson turned to Shepard who was already wearing the Heavy Armor and putting all his weapons on.

"I would rather be dishonest than wear something with pink on it." Shepard simply said his back turned to Anderson. Anderson couldn't help but smirk at Shepard. That was easier than he thought. Afterwards, Anderson had left with Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley. On the way out Nihlus split of to give his report to the Council.

"See ya around Nihlus." Shepard said as Nihlus walked off. They then made their way over to the human embassy only to see the human ambassador, Donnel Udina, arguing with the Council.

"This is an outrage! The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!" Udina told the Council members. Shepard and the others moved to the other side of the room overlooking the presidium.

"The turians do not found colonies on the border of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador." Valern said with ambassador sounding like a term to put Udina down. Shepard just shook his head. Udina should have known that the Council wouldn't help them so long as it didn't affect them directly.

"Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse." Tevos said. Shepard noticed her voice sounded as if she was an adult talking to a child.

"What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rouge spectre. I demand action!" Udina said more forcefully. Then Sparatus spoke.

"You can't get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador." Sparatus said with his voice hinting that he thought this whole thing was a waste of time.

"Citadel security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing. Not before." Tevos said finishing the conversation. With that their images flickered out and Udina growled as he turned to everyone else.

"Captain Anderson, I see you brought half your crew with you." Udina said to Anderson. Shepard was confused, he wasn't part of Anderson's crew so why did- oh right N7 armor.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime... and Ghost who was on the ground to." Anderson said pointing to Shepard. Udina then turned to Shepard as he looked over him.

"So you are Ghost? Where is your mask?" Udina asked skeptically.

"It was destroyed along with my armor when the beacon exploded in front of me and knocked me out." Shepard explained. That was when Udina exploded.

"Then it was your fault that the beacon was destroyed!" Udina accused him.

"Hey you asshole, it wasn't my fault it exploded!" Shepard shot back at him. Anderson finished the brewing argument.

"That was Saren's fault not his." Anderson said.

"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up any evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise the Council could use this as an excuse to keep us out of the loop in galactic politics." Udina said.

"That other spectre Nihlus' word should be enough to get them moving hopefully." Shepard said not really believing his own words.

"Saren is their top agent. Chances are they will take his word over another one." Udina said.

"It sounds like you managed to convince them to give us an audience." Anderson surmised.

"Yes though they were reluctant about it." Udina said.

"Come with me Captain, I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Ghost you can take the other 2 and wander around for a little until the hearing. I'll make sure you have clearance." Udina said as he dismissed them. Shepard glared at Udina's back as he left.

"Well I don't know about you 2, but I'm going to see the sights." Shepard said as he walked out and started wandering around. Ashley and Kaidan looked at each other.

"Maybe we should tag along in case he tries to make a break for it?" Kaidan asked.

"It would probably be smart." Ash stated as they both went after our wayward hero. After walking around for a while they came to a scenic overlook of the Citadel somewhere in the wards. The look was stunning with all the lights, buildings and cars flying around.

"Big place." Kaidan said aloud.

"That your professional opinion, sir?" Ashley said in a dry tone.

"Damn, this isn't a station. It's a freaking city." Shepard said aloud.

"There must be millions here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going." Kaidan observed.

"This makes Jump-Zero look like a porta-john. And it is the largest deep space station in Alliance space." Ashley said.

"Jump-Zero was big. But this is on a whole nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do you think they keep all that mass from flying apart?" Kaidan asked stupified at it all.

"Guess the Council represents more races than I thought. No wonder they don't trust new people easily." Shepard said his own thoughts.

"I think they just want things to keep running. It must be difficult to keeping all these cultures working together." Kaidan responded to Shepard.

"Or maybe they just don't like humans." Ashley said in a skeptic voice.

"Why the hell not? We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we have everything they want." Shepard replied to Ash. Shepard noticed Ashley smirked before she started talking.

"If you expect me to get in a tinfoil miniskirt and thigh-high boots, I want dinner first." Then she blushed, realizing what she just said.

"That will be all chief." Kaidan said smiling.

"Don't worry Kaidan. I have to admit though, now I'm a little tempted to see it." Shepard said with a grin. He and Alenko couldn't help but chuckle at Ashley's sputtering. They all decided to go to the citadel tower after that.

At the Citadel Tower

Shepard and the duo had just exited the elevator when they saw 2 turians arguing. They decided to listen in on the conversation.

"Saren's hiding something, give me more time. Stall them." the turian in blue armor said.

"Stall the Council? Don't be foolish! Your investigation is over Garrus." said the other turian in a suit

"Dammit Pallin this is serious!" Garrus shouted. "We even have a report from another spectre that Saren was the one who started the attack. Does that not matter?"

"It's out of your hands, Garrus. It's over, Council orders." Pallin said in an even tone as he walked away. That was when Garrus noticed the group that had been watching the argument. He zeroed in on one person in particular.

"Are you Ghost?" He asked talking to Shepard.

"Yea." Shepard responded.

"Garrus Vakarian, I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation on Saren." Garrus admitted.

"With that argument earlier, it sounded like you want to bring him down." Shepard stated.

"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way." Garrus said.

"Yea, I got the same feeling when I first saw him." Shepard sympathized. Garrus gave the turian equivalent of a smirk.

"Good to see someone agrees with me. Unfortunately he's a spectre, everything he touches is classified. I can't find anything concrete on him." Garrus said with his smirk vanishing.

"Don't worry about it. Look I'm going to go see the Council now. With how they are, chances are they're only humoring us, now don't stop investigating I'm going to see if I can at the least buy some time for any evidence to pop up. Okay?" Shepard telling his plan to Garrus.

"Yes, that could work." Garrus said with a nod. Then he exited through the elevator. With a plan formulating in Shepard's head, they all went to the Council chambers to begin the hearing. When they arrived Anderson was already there.

"Good, the hearings already started come on." Anderson said not wasting any time. Shepard looked around and noticed the Council. He also noticed Nihlus was in the room and looking at something with the turian version of scowl. Shepard looked at what Nihlus was looking at and shared the same sentiment when he saw the hologram of Saren. When he saw Saren he could see that he was giving all the humans a hate filled glare.

"The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate that Saren was involved." He heard Tevos

"The investigation by c-sec has turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason." Sparatus said smugly.

"You have to eye witness reports, including one from another spectre." Udina said.

"We read the reports, ambassador, but we still have no solid evidence on whether or not it was Saren." Valern said

"I resent these accusations. I was nowhere near your Eden Prime." Saren said in a cool tone.

"You really believe we will think that?" Anderson said. Saren looked at Anderson with a sneer.

"Captain Anderson, you always appear to be involved when humanity has false charges against me." Then Saren turned to look at Shepard.

"And who is this? Your protege?" Saren said as his eyes bore holes into Shepard.

"No, I'm not. I'm Ghost, or you can call me Shepard, you know the guy who backhanded you in the face on Eden Prime? Hows your mandible by the way?" Shepard said smirking at him. Now everyone who didn't know was looking at Shepard in shock. Saren quickly got his composure back.

"Ah Aria's spectre equivalent? Can't say I'm impressed, but then what would you expect from a human." Saren said with human sounding like a poison.

"Hollow words coming from a man who is not even in the room." Shepard shot back. That was when he started chuckling. Everyone was looking at him confused. Why was he chuckling in a hearing?

"Is there something you wish to share with us Shepard?" Sparatus said with his usual annoyed tone. Shepard looked right at him.

"Sorry, its just something I noticed about the situation." Shepard said grinning.

"What was it that you noticed that caused you to laugh?" Valern asked eager to find away to study Shepard somehow.

"Its just that, with the turian councilor, a representative of all his species, I'm a little surprised that he so easily took the words of a bareface." Shepard said without an ounce of decency. Suddenly the entire Council Chambers with silent. the only thing that could be heard was the footsteps of the citadel's keepers. The reactions varied from person to person. With Anderson, Ashley and Kaidan there was confusion. With Udina he looked as if he was going to have a stroke any second. With Tevos and Valern, they both looked shocked at how he said it so plainly. With Nihlus and Sparatus, they were in shock. And finally with Saren, well he was pissed.

"How do you know that term?" Saren said as calmly as he could. Everyone could see he was now wishing he was in the room so he could strangle Shepard to death. Shepard looked at him smugly.

"I lived all around the galaxy after I lost my home to slavers. I picked things up as I traveled." Shepard said cheekily. That was when Sparatus spoke up.

"I suppose that would be ironic in a sense. You know your cultures real well, Shepard." Sparatus said in a calm voice.

"Thank you." Shepard said.

"Be that as it may however, many turians, as well as myself, have started moving away from that belief. Besides I have known Saren for years-" Sparatus continued to say until he was cut off.

"Then you should not be part of the trial on the account of personal bias with the accused!" roared Udina, seeing an opening that Shepard had provided. Now everyone was looking at Sparatus telling him to get off the podium in outrage. Sparatus looked around finally realizing he had stepped on a political landmine. He looked to his fellow councilors for some support, instead he got shocked looks from both of them and no support. With everyone in the Chamber going nuts, Tevos had to put the hearing to continue later on in the day. With that Shepard looked at Saren's hologram which looked at him with hatred. Shepard put his middle finger up toward Saren in return.

'After this I'm coming for you personally. I don't like people who attack colonies for no good reason.' Shepard thought as he watched the hologram wink out.


	5. Looking for Evidence

Recap: 'After this I'm coming for you personally. I don't like people who attack colonies for no good reason.' Shepard thought as he watched the hologram wink out.

Now

After the trial, all the human party had left discussing details on what to do next.

"I must ask Shepard was that bareface comment on purpose?" Udina asked curious.

"Maybe." Shepard said grinning.

"What exactly did you mean when you called him bareface." Kaidan asked.

"Well did you notice that most turians have markings on their faces?" Shepard asked with everyone nodding.

"The reasons turians have those markings is to signify the colonies they grew up on. If a turian committed a crime, the markings would show which colony the turian came from and would reflect badly on that colony. So they remove the markings so that their colony's reputation isn't harmed or to hide where they may have come from. Unfortunately, that is pretty much a way of showing that they can't be trusted." Shepard explained.

"How did you know that the turian councilor knew Saren well enough though?" Anderson asked.

"To be honest it was just a hunch. With the way he was acting I couldn't help but get a feeling that he may have known Saren well enough." Shepard confessed. Then he grinned.

"Besides, the trial was getting boring and Saren was making me mad so I decided to kick the hornets nest." Shepard with a smile.

"Shepard, if your little stunt had ended with the Council disbelieving us and messing with us I would have had you arrested for such disrespect, but since it actually got us some time I'll ignore it. You should go find any evidence that you can." Udina said.

"So we should hurry and find any evidence we can get." Anderson said.

"Wait Anderson you can not be part of this. Your history with Saren almost jeopardized us, if Shepard had not talked during the trial we may have lost." Udina said.

"Whoa Udina, I know Anderson has some history with Saren and all, but I don't think he deserves that." Shepard said trying to defend Anderson. Anderson stopped him with his hand raised.

"No, Shepard Udina is right. If I get involved the Council will definitely question our motives." Anderson said. Shepard couldn't help but sigh.

"Fine then, don't worry we'll figure it out. Anyone got any leads that we could go on?" Shepard asked aloud.

"What about that C-Sec investigator, Garrus? We saw him arguing with the executor." Kaidan offered.

"That's right! He was asking for more time with his investigation. He seemed to be getting close something when he was cut off." Ashley adding her input. That's when Shepard had noticed something. When Pallin left, he said Council's orders. What did that mean? Did that mean that the Council stopped the investigation before the hearing to intentional stop them from finding anything? Yeah they probably had done that! Shepard was taken out of his thoughts when Udina spoke.

"I have a contact at C-Sec that can help track Garrus down. His name is Harkin." Udina said.

"Forget it, they suspended Harkin last month. Drinking on the job. I wouldn't waste my time with that loser." Anderson said with a snort.

"Sounds like a typical cop on Omega to me." Shepard said.

"You've been to Omega?" Kaidan asked him.

"Been? I live there." Shepard said casually. Everyone was looking at him in shock.

"You live on Omega?" Anderson asked shocked that the Ghost of Terminus lived on Omega of all places.

"Since I was 16 years old." Shepard said. Everyone was a little freaked out by him now.

"We got any other leads? I'll take Harkin, but I would feel better if we had a more... reliable source." Shepard said trying to get off the subject.

"I have unfinished business that I need to attend to. Captain, meet me in my office later." Udina said walking away. Anderson turned to Shepard.

"Harkin is most likely getting drunk in Chora's Den. It's a little club in the lower section of the wards." Anderson informed.

"Probably tame in comparison to Afterlife on Omega." Shepard mused aloud.

"Afterlife?" Kaidan asked.

"Chances are Chora's Den has a smaller bar and fewer pole dancers than Afterlife does." Shepard said looking at him.

"How many does Afterlife have?" Kaidan asked

"Well I never bothered to count them when I walked in, but I do know you can't turn around in there without keeping 1 or 2 in your sights though." Shepard said. He couldn't help but chuckle at Kaidan's face when he said that. He also couldn't help but notice how Ashley was looking at him with judging eyes and Anderson was smirking at him. Shepard decided to explain things to everyone.

"Look I never decided to stay for the show, not that I didn't take a few glances. I was there for either drinks or to get a job from the boss herself, Aria T'Loak." Shepard said. Ashley's glare lightened a little at least.

"Hey Anderson I noticed that Udina is not on good terms with the Council." Shepard said a curious with how things were. When it was him and Aria things were rocky at first with her trying to manipulate him and him wanting to kill her during the training. Later on they got to know one another and eventually Aria had grown comfortable with how he was and he did not want kill her anymore.

"You noticed huh? He's frustrated. The Council's always preaching that we need to be part of the galactic community. But for them it's a one way street. They want us to expand and settle unstable regions like the Skyllian Verge and Attican Traverse. But when we run into trouble, they don't want to help us out." Anderson explained.

"You can't depend on them for trouble for everything. With the Council, they prefer to talk and wait for the problem to come to them. There is no use to asking them for help in a real fight." Shepard stated his thoughts on the Council.

"Look Shepard, everyone knows it is only a matter of time until we get a seat on the Council. The ambassador just thinks it should happen sooner or later, and I agree." Anderson stated

"Look Anderson maybe they would let you join if you may have been more willing to work with other species." Shepard said.

"Of course they would! If we did everything they told us to, they'd love to hve us on the Council, but it wouldn't be much of a deal for us." Anderson stated. Then he noticed something was off when Shepard said you instead of we, but wrote off as a slip of the tongue.

"I understand their side: They don't want us dominating the Council. It's founded on cooperation, but we have to look out for our interests too." Anderson explained

"Well, you might be able to do both then eventually." Shepard said. There it was again. That you instead of we.

"Hey what do you mean by 'you' don't you mean 'we'?" Anderson asked. Now Kaidan and Ashley were looking at him curiously.

"Well to be honest, I don't see myself as part of humanity." Shepard said startling everyone.

"What do you mean Shepard?" Ashley said looking at him wide eyed.

"Well even though the Citadel is a melting pot of different cultures, you guys still maintain differences in species. But on Omega its everyone for themselves almost. Living on Omega I had stopped seeing the differences with species. Asari, turian, krogan, batarian, vorcha, salarian, and humans, I hardly see the difference there." Shepard explained. Everyone was now looking at him like he had grown a second head.

"Your strange Shepard." Kaidan said.

"That's fine with me." Shepard said.

"Anyway Shepard there is another person you could ask, a volus by the name of Barla Von. He's an agent for the shadow broker." Anderson said.

"The shadow broker huh? Well that or Harkin huh? I'll do both Harkin first, then Barla Von." Shepard said. With a plan now in mind he decided to go to Chora's Den to start his search.

A walk to the wards later

Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley had made to the front of Chora's Den. During the trip they talked for a while.

"Look all I'm asking is why is it called Chora's Den? Did someone named Chora create it?" Shepard asked

"I don't know, why is Afterlife named like that?" Kaidan asked annoyed.

"That's obvious. Living on Omega is a living hell depending on which part of the station you live on which is most of it. Going to Afterlife with the women and drinks will make you think you died and finally went to heaven." Shepard told him. Ashley and Kaidan were now looking at him strangely.

"What?" Shepard asked noticing the looks.

"Nothing." The both of them said.

"Well let's get goi-" Shepard started to say before he noticed 2 turians coming toward them with assault rifles. The others must have noticed cause they went quiet. That was when the turians turned the weapons on them. They were to slow with Shepard using overload on them and their weapons. In combination with Ashley and Kaidan shooting them, the 2 would-be-assassins were gunned down easily.

"Those were Saren's men." Kaidan observed.

"Yeah, they were." Shepard agreed.

"That means that we are on the right trail, right?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, or that Saren believes we are a threat to him." Shepard said. With that they entered Chora's Den to hear the beat of the music playing, seeing the dancers he heard Kaidan talking about how he could understand why the place was so popular.

"Hey Lieutenant, you may want to pick your tongue up off the floor before you trip on it." Ashley said jokingly. Shepard smirked as he saw Kaidan blush at Ashley's comment. Shepard then looked in the direction of 2 krogan who looked to be arguing. One was a regular looking one who was acting like a bodyguard. The other one Shepard knew immediately was someone he did not want to fight. This one exuded centuries of experience, had red eyes as well as a red plate. The one characteristic that Shepard zeroed in on was the scar that went over the krogan's eye and down his face.

"Back off Wrex. Fist told us to take you down if you showed up." Said the bouncer.

"What are you waiting for? I'm standing right here. This is Fist's only chance. If he's smart he'll take it." Wrex threatened.

"He's not coming out Wrex. End of story." the Bouncer growled out.

"This story is just beginning." Wrex finished. Wrex then looked in Shepard's direction and walked towards them, heading for the exit.

"Out of my way humans, I have no quarrel with you." Wrex said as he walked pass them.

"What was that all about?" Kaidan asked aloud.

"Who knows lets just stay out of it." Ashley said not really thinking it was their problem. Shepard had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking. He couldn't believe how naive she was. On Omega, if someone else had a problem, you and others could be dragged into it. That was when Shepard noticed a guy in a C-Sec outfit drinking.

'That had to be Harkin' Shepard thought as he approached the man. Harkin looked at him as he approached.

"Hmph, Alliance military. I could've been a marine you know. Instead I joined the goddamn Citadel Security. Biggest mistake of my life." Harkin said.

"I'm guessing your Harkin. You can tell me where Garrus is then." Shepard said not really liking the man at all.

"Garrus? Ha! You must be one of Captain Anderson's crew. Poor bastard's still trying to bring down Saren huh?" Harkin said with a disgusting smirk on his face. Shepard was repulsed by how the guy was acting.

"Yeah I know where Garrus is, but first you have to tell me something. Did the Captain tell you his little secret?" Harkin asked.

"Is there something I should know about Anderson?" Shepard asked in mild curiosity. He was starting to get annoyed by this guy.

"The Captain used to be spectre. Didn't know that did you? Humanity's first spectre and he blew it. All very hush hush." Harkin said chuckling. Shepard was a little startled, but he knew something was off. Anderson was a spectre? No, everyone would have known. He may have been a recruit with a trainer or something though. But who... Saren! That's why Anderson is after Saren so much.

"Yea, messed up his mission so bad, they kicked him out. Of course he blames Saren. Says the turian set him up." Harkin continued.

"If that did happen, why exactly was he kicked out?" Shepard asked.

"Have to ask him yourself. Never got the details, bet it would make a good story though. The hero's fall. Classic tragedy. Ha!" Harkin laughed. Shepard was having enough so he decided to play with the guy.

"Yeah, but at least Anderson never kept making his mistakes, unlike you." Shepard said. That got Harkin to shut up.

"What the hell did you say.?" Harkin said.

"You heard me. Unlike you, Anderson never gave up and always did right. You on the other hand were major fuck up right off the bat. The only reason you are off the force now is because you are no longer useful, not that you were by much in beginning anyway." Shepard spoke his thoughts to the guy.

"I know you were one of the first humans on C-Sec, so the politicians kept you around because of that fact then. Now that they have more reliable humans in C-Sec you no longer have any value." Shepard continued.

"Well you just lost any chance of me telling you anything about Garrus. Leave." Harkin growled at him. Shepard gave a sweet smile to Harkin.

"Excuse me for a minute." Shepard said. Shepard then walked to the bouncer and started talking with him.

"Hey, listen do you care if I were to start a little trouble with that guy right there?" Shepard asked as he passed 2000 credits to the guy.

"What guy?" the bouncer asked pretending not to know who he was talking about.

"No one, nevermind." Shepard said grinning. He then walked back to Harkin.

"Didn't I tell you to leave." Harkin sneered at him. Shepard grabbed the bottle Harkin had, observing it.

"You know, I really need to know where Garrus is and I will find out." Shepard said.

"You won't hear it from-arggh!" was as far as Harkin got when Shepard had busted the bottle against Harkin's head. Moving faster than Ashley or Kaidan could faster, Shepard grabbed Harkin by the neck and had his omni-blade out towards Harkin's balls.

"Now listen and listen well. I don't have a lot of patience today. Now we can do this the easy way in which you tell me what I want now or the hard way where I castrate you here and now with my omni-blade. Understand?" Shepard said to Harkin who was sweating bullets now.

"Okay! Okay, Garrus was somewhere around Dr. Michel's office. She runs the clinic on the other side of the wards. He may have been heading there. That's it." Harkin said frantic to get Shepard to go away.

"Thank you, we'll be leaving now." Shepard said as he and the others left. As they exited Ashley spoke.

"Why didn't the Captain tell us about that Spectre business?" She asked.

"Does it matter? It was his business, not ours." Shepard said. They then continued on to Dr. Michel's clinic. When they got there Shepard felt something was off with how quiet it was in there.

"Hey guys get a weapon out I'm getting a bad feeling, get a weapon out." Shepard told them. Shepard took out his shotgun, Kaidan took out his pistol while Ashley took out her assault rifle. With that they walked in.

"I didn't tell anyone. I swear!" Shepard heard a female voice say. He could see some thugs messing with a woman in a doctor's outfit. Must be Dr. Michel. He also noticed Garrus was sneaking around the corner with a gun out.

"That was smart Doc." Shepard noticed one of the thugs speaking.

"Now, if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll-" The thug said until he noticed Shepard and his crew. The thug grabbed Michel and held a gun toward her head.

"Who are you?" the thug said with Shepard and crew pointing their weapons at the thugs. That was when Garrus moved out of cover and shot at the thug holding Dr. Michel and scored right in the head. Thinking quickly Shepard used stasis on Dr. Michel. While she was paralyzed it also formed a biotic field around her so that she would be protected. He then joined in with Ashley, Kaidan and Garrus in mopping up the rest of the thugs. When the fighting was over, Garrus spoke up.

"Perfect timing Shepard. Gave me a clear line of sight on that bastard." Garrus said.

"Garrus nice shot and all, but seriously you could have shot her. And the fight that started she's lucky I used stasis to protect her." Shepard said worrying for Dr. Michel and Garrus' way of doing things. Sure he did things fast and lose sometimes, but he never put other people at risk unless there was no other way.

"There wasn't enough time to think. I just reacted. I didn't mean to- Dr. Michel? Are you hurt?" Garrus said realizing what could have happened.

"No I'm fine. Thanks to all of you." Dr. Michel said.

"Why were those men threatening you? Who were they working for?" Shepard asked her.

"They work for Fist. They wanted to keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian." Dr. Michel explained.

"How does this link with the investigation to Saren?" Shepard asked confused.

"A few days ago a quarian came by my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was frightened, probably on the run." Dr. Michel informed them.

"She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to exchange information for a safe place to hide." Michel continued on.

"Where did she go then?" Shepard asked confused.

"I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker." Dr. Michel explained.

"Not anymore. He works for Saren now and Shadow Broker is pissed." Garrus said.

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That was stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer." Dr. Michel stated.

"Meaning that quarian must have something Saren wants. Something-" Garrus said.

"Worth crossing the Shadow Broker for." Shepard finished for him.

"She must have some pretty damning evidence on Saren then. Did she mention anything else?" Shepard asked.

"She did mention the information she had was something about the geth." Dr. Michel mentioned in thought.

"She must have been able to link Saren with the geth. There is no way the Council will be able to ignore this." Garrus said realizing what could happen.

"I think its time we paid Fist a visit, don't you think?" Shepard said aloud.

"Shepard, this is your show now but please-" Garrus started to ask.

"You want to join? Fine by me. We could use an extra gun or 2." Shepard said.

"Okay, hey I heard the Shadow Broker had hired a bounty hunter after Fist." Garrus said.

"Yea we saw him in Chora's Den." Ashley said

"We could use a krogan in a fight." Shepard stated.

"Last I heard, he was in the C-Sec academy." Garrus said.

"Why is he there?" Kaidan asked.

"Fist accused him of making threats. We brought Wrex in for a little talk. If we hurry, we can catch him before he leaves." Garrus said.

"Well lets go." Shepard said ready to go find anymore information on Saren. In doing so Fist stood in his way, and chances were he was going to need Wrex to help him. He and everyone then made their way to the C-Sec academy.


	6. Ghost becomes Spectre

Recap: "Well lets go." Shepard said ready to go find anymore information on Saren. In doing so Fist stood in his way, and chances were he was going to need Wrex to help him. He and everyone then made their way to the C-Sec academy.

Now

After walking to the c-sec academy the whole gang had arrived to see Wrex talking to several c-sec officers. One human and two turians.

"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist bar. Stay away from him." the human officer said.

"I don't take orders from you." Wrex said. Shepard immediately knew Wrex was not impressed by the intimidation tactic. In fact he was sure Wrex was only annoyed by the guy.

"This is your only warning Wrex." said the officer.

"You should warn Fist, I will kill him." Wrex said.

"Do you want me to arrest you?" the officer asked with a glare.

"I want you to try." Wrex said with the krogan equivalent of a smirk on his face. That was when he noticed Shepard, Garrus, Ashley and Kaidan. Wrex walked over to them.

"Go on. Get out of here." the officer said as Wrex walked away.

"Do I know you human?" Wrex said as he walked towards Shepard. Then Shepard did something no one saw coming. He reared his head back and head-butted Wrex. Everyone looked at him as if he was insane.

"The name's Shepard, or Ghost as I'm sometimes called. I have to meet someone and I have to go through Fist to meet her. Wanna help out?" Shepard said. Wrex recovered quickly and studied the human in front of him. This was Ghost? The man who defeated numerous slavers and 3 thresher maws? He then took a closer look at him and noticed the confidence in Shepard's eyes. Eyes that held know fear in them only an unwavering fire to do the impossible. Wrex noticed that the head-butt Shepard gave him was strong enough to send him back a few inches. This was a human he could respect.

"You've got a quad human! Shepard huh? Ghost? I've heard a lot about you. We're both warriors Shepard. Out of respect I will warn you, I will kill Fist." Wrex said

"Good, I'm counting on it." Shepard said with a smile.

"Fist will be expecting us. We would have a better chance if we work together." Garrus said

"My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend." Wrex said.

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend huh? I can get on board with that." Shepard said grinning. Wrex grinned at Shepard.

"Well what are we waiting for here? Let's go I would hate to keep Fist waiting." Wrex said. With that all 5 of them made their way to Chora's Den only to see the club appearing to be closed.

"What the hell?" Ashley said.

"We were here only an hour or 2 ago." Kaidan said.

"I did say Fist would be expecting us." Garrus said. That was when they noticed Shepard was putting his hand on the door lightly patting it with a biotic aura surrounding him.

"What are you doing?" Wrex asked.

"I have a strange sense of energy waves such electricity and Eezo. I can even sense you are a biotic Wrex." Shepard said. Everyone looked from him to Wrex who was shocked. Wrex had not mentioned his abilities to them yet and the other 3 had assumed that he was a simple krogan mercenary.

"Wait, what do you mean by you can sense biotics?" Kaidan asked.

"Well, ever since I was a child I could always sense... something when I was around very powerful power stations or incredible powerful biotics. When my biotics manifested the sense got stronger 100 fold. Now I can sense any biotic or significant electrical signal any time I want. I could even tell you how powerful anyone with biotics are depending on their biotic aura." Shepard responded.

"Well what can you tell about Alenko and Wrex?" Ashley asked. Shepard then stared at Alenko for a minute and then looked at Wrex.

"From the feeling of their auras, they are very powerful for a vanguard and a sentinel." Shepard said.

"Wait how did you know what their classes were?" Garrus asks.

"Well I can usually tell by the radiance of their auras as well as the weaponry in their arsenal. Both their auras are strong but not as radiant as an adept is." Shepard explained.

"Okay Shepard, that is strange. So what are you doing with the door?" Kaidan asked him.

"I'm sending a biotic pulse through the door to tell what's in there. Currently the doors been locked and I can sense over a dozen armed men, including a couple krogan too." Shepard said as he backed away from the door. He then started gathering a warp field in his hand and started increasing the power of it.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Ashley asked a little wary of what he was doing.

"I'm going to break down the door, what's it look like?" Shepard responded.

"Shepard, you do know that we could hack the door right?" Garrus asked nervous of what Shepard was doing.

"No you can't. They have taken out the door pad. You can see that, can't you Garrus?" Shepard simply said. Everyone started backing away from him. Then Shepard used the Power Strike(I don't know if there could be another name for it, if any of you got a decent name send it.) on the door. The effect was immediate and spectacular. The door stood strong for a few seconds, but then the door began groan and screech as it started to get crushed under the power of Shepard's attack. Shepard's team as well as the ones inside Chora's Den looked on in shock as Shepard's attack destroyed the door. With one final thrust (Not that kind you perverts!) the door exploded into Chora's Den, shrapnel flying everywhere hitting several of the armed men, killing them. Shepard flew in with omni-blades out and began slashing at the nearest enemy. By the time the others got in he was on the other side of the club. They surveyed what happened and noticed that Shepard was stabbing a krogan in the chest. That was when the other enemies had their trained on Shepard. Moving quickly, he grabbed the krogan's arm, twisted it behind it's back and used the krogan for a shield. The move worked and killed the krogan in the process while leaving Shepard unscathed. Then Shepard's team finally joined in taking on the remaining enemies in the room. Shepard turned his left omni-blade into an omni-shield and blocked gunfire from the entrance to the club's backroom. He noticed a fire canister along wall in the back and used incinerate on causing it to explode and kill one of the 2 men shooting at him. He then used his shotgun on the remaining guy and blew his head off with one shot. As the fighting ended Shepard surveyed the damage they did to Chora's Den. He had to admit he hadn't cause this much damage to a club since that one time Aria gave him Ryncol at Afterlife. He couldn't help, but grimace at that particular memory. It had been bad from the second that awful liquid went down his throat . As soon as he ingested it he was drunk off his ass and started trashing the club. The guards couldn't stop him and when Aria had to jump in it just got worse. Chairs and tables flew through the room as a biotic battle erupted between him and her. Poor Patriarch ended getting thrown around the room in all the confusion. The dancers were scared out of their minds and the guards were crying for their mommies. When he finally got out of it he came face to face with an extremely pissed off Aria and a messed up Afterlife. After that he had to repair the club as well as pay for any other damages that may have occurred and any drinks that were destroyed in the fight. What a shitty month.

"Damn Shepard, if you find more fights like this I'm going to have to follow you for awhile." Wrex said bringing Shepard out of his thoughts.

"Sure Wrex, though honestly this hasn't happened for a few weeks." Shepard replied. With that they all walked toward the backroom and came face to face with something that was ridiculous.

"Hold it right there! Don't come any closer." said a young worker.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Kaidan said.

"Warehouse workers. All the real guards must be dead." Ashley said.

"Stay back or we'll shoot." One of the workers said.

"This would be a good time to find another place to work at." Shepard said pointing outside.

"Yeah, yeah right. That's a good idea." The first worker said with obvious relief.

"Yea, I never liked Fist anyway." The second one said. The 2 ran out fast.

"Would have been easier to shoot them." Wrex commented.

"Shooting people isn't always the answer." Garrus retorted. They then walked toward Fist's office. Almost immediately, turrents from the side fired on them with Fist joining in. Shepard and company took cover quickly. Shepard began immediately hacking the turrents and caused them to self-destruct, injuring Fist in the process.

"Ugh Dammit. Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender." Fist said. Shepard then took his pistol and aimed it at Fist right between the eyes.

"Where is the quarian?" Shepard said in an even tone.

"She's not here! I don't know where she is. That's the truth." Fist said. Shepard immediately knew he was lying. He then biotically grabbed Fist and slammed him on the wall and held him there.

"He is no use to you now, let me kill him." Wrex said eager to shoot Fist.

"Wait, wait! I don't know where she is, but I can tell you where she'll be." Fist said frantic.

"I'm listening." Shepard said.

"Like I said, the quarian isn't here. She said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself." Fist said.

"Face to face? Impossible! Even I was hired by an agent." Wrex stated. It was true no one ever saw the Shadow Broker as far as Shepard knew. Shepard released Fist and let him onto the ground.

"No one meets the Shadow Broker. Ever. Even I don't know who he is. She didn't know that though. I told her I'd set a meeting up. And when she shows up, it will be Saren's men waiting for her." Fist continued. Shepard then threw Fist around the room before he slammed Fist onto the ground.

"Give me the damn location now before I break your arms and legs." Shepard growled.

"Here on the wards. The back alley by the markets. She is supposed to meet them now. You can make it if you hurry." Fist squeaked out. Wrex then took his shotgun out and shot Fist killing the crimelord. Ashley immediately had her rifle on Wrex.

"Drop the gun, krogan." she snarled.

"Why did you do that?!" Garrus asked horrified. Kaidan looked shocked at what happened. The only one who was calm was Shepard.

"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him. I don't leave jobs half done." Wrex said.

"But still..." Garrus said. That was when Shepard spoke up.

"Look Wrex, a little warning would have been nice so I could back up a little. Williams lower your gun, no one is going to miss Fist." Shepard said.

"We don't shoot unarmed prisoners Shepard." Kaidan said.

"How many people died because of him? He brought this on himself. Besides, we have more pressing concerns." Wrex said.

"He's right, that quarian's dead if we don't get to her." Ashley said finally relenting.

"Well then, I haven't been on the Citadel long and I'm sure Ash, Kaidan and Wrex haven't either. Garrus think you could find the place Fist was talking about." Shepard asked.

"Yea, I know it like..what's the human saying? Like the back of my hand?" Garrus stated. Shepard nodded.

"Let's get moving." Shepard stated. Everyone but Shepard left the room.

"Hey Isaac, you there?" Shepard asked.

"Yea?" Isaac said.

"Hack the console over there please and transfer any files to my omni-tool. I get the feeling that a lot of people would want it. Just need to give it to the right one." Shepard said.

"Gotcha." Isaac said and began remotely downloading into an OSD. With that they ran out of the club and met several more armed men. They quickly mopped them up with their various talents and made their way to the back alley. Once there they saw the meeting had just started. Unlike everyone else Shepard heard the whole thing.

"Did you bring it?" the lone turian said.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" he could hear the quarian say in a cautious tone.

"They'll be here. Where's the evidence?" the assassin said trailing his hand down her arm. She quickly slapped it away.

"No way. The deals off." She said with an even tone. The turian backed off and then Shepard noticed 2 salarians walk out from behind a crate. The quarian also noticed them and threw something at them before she jumped into cover. It must have been a grenade because an explosion went off between the 2 salarians killing one and knocking the other on his back. The others then sprung into action catching the assassins of guard quickly overwhelming them. When the massacre ended Shepard walked towards the quarian. He could tell she was mad if her body language was anything to go by.

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust that bosh'tet!" She hissed. Shepard couldn't help but smile at her attitude.

"Don't worry about Fist, he's gone now. Are you okay?" Shepard asked.

"I know how to look after myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help. Who are you?" she asked with a little suspicion.

"A friend. I'm Shepard or Ghost, which ever one you want to go with. I'm looking for any evidence that could prove Saren's a traitor." Shepard explained.

"I've heard of you Ghost, you helped other quarians who were on their Pilgrimage when they were taken by slavers." she said.

"Well it's nice to meet you miss..." Shepard said wanting to know her name.

"Tali, I think I can help you with Saren, but we need to be somewhere safe." Tali said.

"We can go to the ambassador's office. It should be safe there." Kaidan said.

"Well then lets go." Shepard said. With that they all made their way over to the presidium.

Presidium Embassies

"Anderson do you see the reports I'm getting?!" Udina boomed at him. A few minutes ago Udina was sent reports of Ghost/Shepard who had caused huge amounts of damage in credits.

"Seriously! A door to a club, an all out assault on Chora's Den and then the firefight in the wards? I'm starting to think this guy should be locked away." Udina said.

"Well things might have been far worse." Anderson said.

"Udina you don't need to yell. We could hear you from the outside at the entrance." Shepard said as he and everyone else walked in. Udina and Anderson turned to see them.

"You are not making my life easier Shepard. With all the damage you caused it will cost us a heavy sum of credits and-" Udina said until Shepard cut him off.

"And we have evidence that proves that Saren is a traitor. So calm down." Shepard said. He noticed Udina quieted down, but was still giving him his best death glare.

"Who is this? A quarian? What are you up to Shepard?" Udina said.

"This lovely young lady has the evidence." Shepard said grinning. For once Tali was grateful to have a mask on since it could hide her blush. Then Shepard said something that shocked her and may have shocked everyone else.

"Why are you blushing?" Shepard said.

"Y-Y-You can see me?" Tali said in strained voice.

"You can see through her mask?" Everyone else said shocked.

"Yea you guys can't?" Shepard said. Everyone else shook there heads no. Tali was shocked. Someone could actually see her behind her mask.

"Anyway, you might want to start at the beginning miss..." Udina said bringing the conversation back on track.

"Uh umm my name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Tali said regaining her composure.

"We don't see many quarians here. Why did you leave the flotilla?" Udina asked.

"I was on my Pilgrimage, my rite of passage into a adulthood." Tali explained.

"What did you find?" Shepard asked. He wanted to ask about the Pilgrimage, but he would have time for that later.

"During my travels I heard reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious." Tali explained. Shepard could understand that. It was natural. Tali then continued.

"I had tracked a patrol of gethto an uncharted world. I waited for one to become separated from it's unit. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core." She continued to say. He had to admit she was impressive with that much skill.

"I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism." Anderson said.

"How did you manage to preserve it?" Shepard asked curious.

"My people created the geth. If you are quick, careful, and lucky small caches of data can sometimes be saved." Tali explained. Shepard knew then and there she was very smart. Now he just needed to know if she was better in a fight. He had seen her fight but not by much.

"Most of the core was wiped clean, but I managed to salvage this from its audio banks." Tali said as she activated her omni-tool. After a minute Saren's voice came out.

_"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." _Anderson looked like he had won the lottery.

"That's Saren's voice. This proves everything!" Anderson said excited.

"Well he's in trouble now." Shepard said.

"Wait Saren wasn't acting alone." Tali said as she continued to play the recording. This time a feminine voice played.

_"And one step closer to the return of the reapers. What of the human who attacked you though?"_

_"The Council will never believe someone from the Terminus especially if it's one of Aria's agents. Besides even if they were of Council space, they still wouldn't listen. Wouldn't want anything happening to their top spectre after all."_ Everyone in the room looked at Shepard to see his reactions. The next second they wish they never did it when they saw the downright evil smile on his face. Oh he was going to get Saren.

"I don't recognize that other voice, the one talking about Reapers." Udina said. For some reason when the word 'Reapers' was said, Shepard felt a wave of nostalgia and something else wash over him.

"I feel like I've heard that name before..." Shepard said not liking the feeling he was getting.

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the protheans to total extinction, and then vanished. At least that's what the geth believe." Tali explained.

"Sounds a little far-fetched." Udina said with blatant skepticism.

"Now I understand the vision on Eden Prime. It was the protheans being wiped out by the reapers!" Shepard said finally starting to piece the puzzle together.

"The geth revere the reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. They believe Saren knows how to bring them back." Tali said.

"The Council is just going to love this." Udina said dryly.

"Tell them or not, they will never believe it unless it shows up at their door." Shepard said not believing the Council will do anything about it. He was a firm believer that all the Council could do was talk, never fight. When the krogan rebellions ended they had grown soft in these peaceful times. Hell Shepard was positive that was a factor in the First Contact War when humanity came on the scene. He knew humanity was strong, no doubt about it, but he had to look at other factors as well. That 1000 years of peace had made the Council arrogant and soft for believing that they finished things with the rebellions. Shepard was sure the took credit for the Rachni Wars to. And when humanity showed the turians believed that they could gain a new client race easily. That wasn't the case when humanity punched back and gave the turians a bloody nose, along with resentment from all the other races as well. That didn't mean Shepard didn't believe in working together with the other races. He believed that they needed to work together since each race called this galaxy their home.

"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor." Anderson said happy that he finally had something to condemn Saren.

"The Captain's right, we need to get this to the Council right away." Udina agreed.

"What about her? The quarian?" Wrex said. He was surprised when Tali whipped her head to him and showed a little backbone.

"My name is Tali!" She said in a raised voice. Wrex just grinned at her.

"Shepard you saw me in that alley. You know what I can do. Let me come with you." Tali said.

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"The Pilgrimage is to show my people how we can support one another, if I don't do anything what does that say about me?" Tali said.

"No why should I let you join in? What skills do you have to bring to the fight?" Shepard clarified. She then knew if she wanted to join, Shepard needed to know what she could do.

"I have been given hand to hand training on the Flotilla, I'm a decent shot with a pistol and a shotgun." Tali said.

"Anything else, I'm going to need more than that." Shepard said.

"I can also hack through geth defenses including firewalls, drones and other units." She added. Shepard grinned at that.

" Okay your in." Shepard said

"Thank you, you won't regret this." Tali said obviously happy.

"Anderson and I will go ahead to get things ready with the Council. Take a few minutes to collect yourselves, then meet us in the tower." Udina said. With that Udina and Anderson left toward the tower.

"Come on guys I'd like to see the Council's faces when we prove them wrong." Shepard as he walked out toward the tower. Everyone soon followed him out.

At the Tower

As he walked towards the Council seats he saw Anderson.

"Come on. Udina's presenting the quarian's evidence to the Council." Anderson said.

"Great, can't wait to see their faces." Shepard said grinning. Anderson smirked at Shepard's humor as well as everyone else. As they walked up the stairs he could hear the recording playing. As he and everyone else got to the podium he took his omni-tool out and took a digital picture of their faces. Each of their faces wore a look of utter shock and outrage.

"You wanted proof? There it is." Udina said sticking is arm out smugly. The Council was incredibly shocked. They had played right into Saren's hands just as he had expected. Each of their reactions was priceless to Shepard. Tevos was in utter shock as if she hadn't even expected it. It was awesome in Shepard's mind to see the wise councilor completely thrown for a loop. With Valern, it was a look of humiliation and anger. Shepard had to guess the humiliation was from being outwitted by a turian. Shepard noticed that every race had some general thing they feel into. With turians, it was military discipline. Salarians, it was intelligence. Asari, it was more diplomacy and politics of sorts. With krogan, it was fighting. Volus, business and money. With humans, if he had to say anything, it was diversity and individuality. Finally he saw his favorite reaction which was from Sparatus. Sparatus looked so humiliated and pissed off that he could have sworn Sparatus was ready to kill someone. He was glad he had taken the picture earlier, who knows he might post it on the extranet.

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador." Sparatus said in a controlled tone that showed just how angry he was. He then continued on, "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status, hunted down and brought to justice."

"I recognize the other voice, the one talking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia." Tevos said sounding sadden.

"Just so you know, some of us in the room don't know every politician or powerful person in the galaxy. Mind telling us who she is?" Shepard said. Tevos looked at him strangely as she regarded him as someone else, not like the others he was with.

"She is a very powerful biotic with many followers." Tevos explained. She then continued, "She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

"I'm more interested in these reapers. What do you know of them?" Valern asked.

"Only what we learned from the memory core, that they were responsible for the prothean's extiction 50,000 years ago." Anderson said.

"The geth also revere them to as their gods. With Saren being the prophet for their return." Shepard continued.

"Saren is looking for something called the Conduit. It could be a way for bringing the reapers back." Anderson finished.

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" Valern asked.

"Would we be talking about if we did?" Shepard asked sarcastically. Then he continued seriously, "If Saren is after it, it has to be dangerous."

"Listen to what your saying! Saren wants to bring back machines that will wipe everyone out? Impossible, it has to be." Sparatus said dismissing the notion.

"We can all agree that Saren betrayed us, but what we do not know his real reason for finding the Conduit or using the geth." Tevos said in a calmer voice.

"The reapers are obviously a myth, a lie to use geth." Valern concluded.

"You should never completely dismiss something no matter how ludicrous it is. You oughta know that by now." Shepard said looking right at Sparatus.

"Very well then answer me this: Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we have found no trace of them before? We obviously would have found something before." Sparatus said smugly thinking he had upped Shepard.

"Perhaps you did find something or encountered something and didn't realize it. Possibly mistook it for prothean tech." Shepard retorted wiping of the smug look Sparatus wore. Shepard then continued, "You have doubted me before about Saren, you did not even bother to truly investigate him even."

"What are you talking about Shepard?" Tevos said.

"Earlier before the hearing, we ran into Garrus Vakarian the c-sec officer in charge of Saren's investigation. When we ran into him he was asking his superior for more time." Shepard said

"Your point being?" Sparatus said annoyed with Shepard's attitude.

"The time it took for the Normandy to get to the Citadel from Eden Prime was short. Chances are when Udina found out what happened from Anderson, he immediately petitioned that Saren be removed from the Spectres. Afterwards, when Udina called the hearing, you immediately went with it in the same day the investigation was started." Shepard explained.

"What are you saying?" Valern asked.

"What he is saying is that it you only allowed the investigation to humor us, only to stop it, sweep it under the rug and use it as an excuse to say that they didn't find anything." Udina said catching onto what Shepard was doing. Udina continued on, "If you had given c-sec more time, then you would have set the hearing later on in the week. Instead you stopped it."

"It's a good thing I told Garrus to keep going before we arrived at the hearing." Shepard stated. He then stared at all the Councilors.

"Now tell me is Saren special or is it all the same routine with your Spectres?" He asked grinning.

"Are you saying we deliberately stopped the investigation so we could keep Saren innocent?" Tevos asked him with a strained voice.

"Yea, that's exactly what I'm saying." He said bluntly. "Honestly I don't see the point with dealing you guys when you continue to sweep us under the rug, and when we do it your way you dismiss us. I swear I don't understand how Udina can deal with you guys day after day. I've only talked with you for one day and I already want to blow my brains out." Shepard ranted.

"Then what would you do if you were us?" Sparatus asked in an angry voice.

"Send your fleet in to get him." Udina said.

"It could secure an entire region and protect our colonies." Udina continued.

"Or it could start a war with the Terminus systems. We will not be dragged into a galactic war over a few dozen human colonies!" Sparatus growled out.

"Sounds fun." Shepard said gaining the attention from everyone. He then turned to Anderson, "Anderson, I'll be taking my leave now and I'm changing the price." He said. Everyone, but Ashley and Kaidan looked confused.

"What is it now?" Anderson said sweating a bit. Was Shepard going to up the price?

"It's free now." Shepard simply said. Anderson was now shocked.

"In case your wondering why, it's because I no longer have to do this. I need to do this. So don't worry, I'll personally stop Saren." Shepard said to Anderson. This garnered some raised brows from everyone. Then Sparatus let out a humorless chuckle.

"Do you really think you can take on Saren with what he has now, human?" Sparatus said as if he was insulted that Shepard could even think he has a chance against turian ex-spectre.

"Yep, you doubted me before and look how it came back and bit you in the ass." Shepard said.

"What did you say?" Sparatus growled to him.

"You heard me! You can help me by either backing me up or standing aside. Or just be quite." Shepard said with no fear at all. That was when Nihlus walked up.

"Councilors if may make a suggestion?" Nihlus said.

"What is it Spectre Nihlus?" Valern asked

"I believe it would be best to have Shepard inducted into the Spectres." Nihlus stated. Everyone looked at him in total shock.

"Why would a turian want a human in the spectres?" Ashley asked.

"Not all of us resent your species. Some of us see the potential in your species, what humanity can bring to the galaxy." Nihlus explained.

"Why me?" Shepard asked.

"Yes why him?" Udina repeated. He would prefer humanity's first spectre actually be part of the alliance.

"Shepard the Council has been looking into for some time now. Personally I believe you fit the bill for a spectre. You are proficient in all attacks and defenses including guns, biotics and tech attacks. You plan ahead or in the heat of battle perfectly. Not to mention your accomplishments over the years. On Elysium you held of an enemy assault single-handed. You showed remarkable courage and skill. Not many could've survived what you went through on Akuze. There you showed a remarkable will to live, a particularly useful talent. On Torfan, you showed a commitment to your mission no matter the cost." Nihlus said pointing out the qualifications.

"No, it is too soon for humanity to join the spectres!" Sparatus said.

"Sir, Saren knows all the spectres. He knows our strengths and our weaknesses. Shepard is an unknown that can take him down, but he needs the resources of spectre to do so." Nihlus said. Tevos and Valern thought it would be best to have Shepard in the spectres to at the very least to keep an eye on him. They both looked at Sparatus and he knew he lost the argument.

"Shepard step forward." Tevos said.

"Wait, I think there is someone who should know about this." Shepard said as started fiddling with his omni-tool. Everyone was curious at what he was doing until a hologram of an asari matriarch appeared in front of him. The Council was shocked when they realized it was Aria T'Loak.

"Shepard, where are you? You were supposed to be back a day ago." She said in an annoyed voice.

"Well Aria, I ran into some big trouble on Eden Prime when I was about to leave." Shepard then explained what happened from there getting to where he was now.

"So now you are going to be humanities first spectre?" Aria said looking at the Council specifically Tevos.

"I'm being offered, thought you might want in." Shepard said. Aria stood there in a thinking pose for a minute or so.

"Do it Shepard, I know you are going to go after Saren either way and with this you could finish him faster." Aria said a little annoyed that her best agent would be leaving her services.

"Don't worry Aria, I'll be back before you know it." Shepard said smirking. Aria hmphed as her hologram winked out.

"Sorry about that, I had to alert my boss and all. You know the drill." Shepard said.

"It's quite alright, that just shows your commitment to your employers." Tevos said. Shepard then walked up to the podium. All eyes were now on him.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." Tevos said.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose action elevate them above rank and file." Valern added.

"Spectres are an ideal. A symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Tevos said.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." Sparatus continued for them.

"You are the first human spectre, Shepard. This is a great accomplishment you and your entire species." Tevos finished.

"Thank you, Councilors. So what now?" Shepard said.

"We are sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him." Valern said.

"Any leads or clues to his location?" Shepard asked.

"We will forward any relevant information to Ambassador Udina." Sparatus replied.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned." Tevos said finishing the conversation. Everyone left the Chambers then. Shepard saw Anderson walk up to him and shook his hand.

"Congradulations, Ghost." Anderson said.

"We've got a lot of work to do Shepard. You need a ship, a crew, supplies..." Udina listed off.

"You'll get access to special equipment and training now. You should go down to the c-sec academy and speak to the Spectre Requisitions officer." Anderson added.

"Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up." Udina said as the 2 walked off.

"Well I'm heading toward the Spectre Requisitions officer Anderson mentioned. Shepard then headed down to the academy with everyone following him since they didn't know what to do. On the way over he passed Fist's files to Emily Wong who was looking for anything that could be a good story. When he entered the academy he saw who he was looking for.

"Hey I going need some armor and weapons." Shepard said.

"Alright let just run you through our system...Wait this can't be right. It's saying offer you our select stock. Spectre?" the turian said.

"Yep." Shepard said.

"I heard about that." the guy responded.

"Let's see what ya got." Shepard said. When Shepard saw what was on the market he grinned like a madman.

"Hey guys, go find Udina and Anderson. Get the brief from them and get on whatever ship we are using." When they left Ashley said she would send him the location of where they would meet up.

At the docks

Anderson and Udina were waiting. Shepard's team was already onboard the Normandy and now they were waiting for the man himself.

"Anderson I'm beginning to think Shepard ditched us." Udina said losing whatever faith he had in Ghost.

"He'll be here Udina. When he commits to something, he fully commits. Just look at that business with the slavers a few years back." Anderson said.

"True." Udina said. That was when they heard the elevator beep. They both turned around to see Shepard in a new outfit with new weaponry. He had changed out of his N7 heavy armor and into Colossus X armor. His rifle was now replaced with a HMWA Master X. His sniper was replaced with a HMWSR Master X. His shotgun had been replaced with a HMWSG Master X. Finally his pistol was now a HMWP Master X. All in all Shepard looked like he was ready to go to war. They also noticed Shepard had a big crate he was having transported to the Normandy.

"You really look like a spectre now Shepard. What was with the crate though?" Anderson asked curious.

"The crate was holding the armor that was the same brand as mine but for my team, plus weapon and armor mods. Any other gadgets like bio-amps and omni-tools too. If we are fighting an army of geth we are going to need all we can get." Shepard responded. Anderson and Udina knew that Shepard was going to do everything he could to make sure they could stop Saren.

"How much did it cost?" Udina asked knowing it was very expensive.

"Too damn much, I hope it's worth it." Shepard said with a cloud over his head, depressed that it cost him so much. This caused the 2 men to smirk at Shepard.

"Okay Shepard I have big news for you. Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. She's your's now." Udina said.

"She's quick and quiet. The crew respects you. Perfect ship for a spectre. Treat her well, Shepard." Anderson said.

"I have to admit Anderson, I feel like I'm stealing the ship from you, don't worry I'll take great care of her and the crew." Shepard said. Anderson smiled at Shepard. He knew when Shepard said the crew, he was a real leader.

"I know you will Shepard." Anderson said.

"Any leads?" Shepard asked.

"Currently one, Matriarch Benezia, the other voice in the recording? She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in protheans." Udina said. He then continued, "We don't know if she is involved, but it would be a good idea to try and find her. See what she knows. Her name is Dr. Liara T'soni."

"Location?" Shepard asked.

"We have reports she was studying an archaeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau Cluster." Udina said.

"Looks like I'm starting there then." Shepard said

"Your a spectre now Shepard, you don't answer to us." Anderson said.

"But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole. You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up." Udina said eyeing Shepard.

"Don't worry, I'll try to keep it to a minimum, Udina." Shepard said with his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Good, now I have a meeting to get to. Captain Anderson will answer any questions you have. Good day." Udina said as he walked away.

"To you as well." Shepard replied as he left. He then turned to Anderson.

"So what's the real reason your doing this? Furthermore what happened between you and Saren?" Shepard asked. Anderson then told him what happened. After hearing it, Shepard was more driven to go after Saren now.

"Don't worry Anderson, I'll give him a good kick to the crotch for you when I see him." Shepard said. Anderson smirked at Shepard and nodded as he left. After Anderson went down the elevator, Shepard walked toward the Normandy, ready to begin his mission.


	7. Explanation

Announcement: Hey everyone! Reviewer543 here. Listen, I've got some things to say. Don't worry, **NOT** quitting writing this story anytime soon. It's just I won't be able to start writing the next chapter at least until next week on Monday. Family coming over and my aunt is getting married over the weekend. So I'm telling you, no new chapters until Wednesday at the soonest. Now to the guest(s) who keep making reviews of my story, thank you very much for those. I always love it to see a new review each time. It makes my heart soar everytime I see my views on either story go up. The latest chapter posting almost gave me heart-attack with how many rolled in. I need reviews to know if my viewers are getting bored or have any ideas in mind for my story. Mass effect 1 is probably going to be my most difficult one I write because I haven't played it as much as the other ones, so if any of you readers have any thoughts or advice to throw my way, please go ahead. Flamers too, I don't expect every review to be nice. Pleasant reading to everyone and have a good day.


	8. Preparation

Recap: "Don't worry Anderson, I'll give him a good kick to the crotch for you when I see him." Shepard said. Anderson smirked at Shepard and nodded as he left. After Anderson went down the elevator, Shepard walked toward the Normandy, ready to begin his mission.

Now

Shepard had let the decontamination process run its course. Right now he was thinking of how to address the crew since he was now in command of the Normandy. If he had to be honest, he was a little nervous. The only other crew he had was Isaac and he controlled mechs to help keep things running on the Judgement. A beep had brought him out of his thoughts when the decontamination process had finished. He was still clad in his Colossus armor when he walked in. He immediately went right to Joker.

"Hey Joker." Shepard greeted. Joker turned to him.

"Hey Shepard, I heard what happened to Captain Anderson. Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken out by backroom politics." Joker said a little glum. Shepard couldn't blame him. He kind of wished Anderson were here too. That was when Joker spoke again.

"Watch your back Shepard cause if this mission goes bad, your next on their chopping block." Joker said warning him. Shepard knew he was right about that. That was how politics worked. They can swallow you up and you won't be seen every again. Then Shepard smirked.

"Well, I won't make it easy on them if that happens. They'll have to catch me first." Shepard said grinning. Joker looked at him shocked.

"You think you can out run the Council?" Joker asked incredulous.

"Yea, if the Shadow Broker couldn't find out who I was until I let him, they damn well won't catch me until its too late." Shepard said. Joker looked at him shocked until he finally got his bearings.

"I have to admit Joker, I kinda feel like I'm stealing Anderson's ship." Shepard said a little nervous at what the crew's reaction is to him.

"Don't worry Shepard. While you may not know all of us, we definitely know you. Everyone here is behind you 100%." Joker said. That reaction relieved Shepard a lot.

"Thanks Joker." Shepard said as he started to walk away. He only got 2 steps until Joker stopped him.

"Uh Shepard, I think that before we lift off you should say a few words to the crew on the intercom. It's open right now." Joker said pointing to the mic.

"Yea, your right about that. I really should say something." Shepard said as he walked back toward the intercom. He thought of what to say and then cleared his throat.

"This is Shepard speaking, but most of you may know me as Ghost. I'll be honest, many of you know me, but sadly I have only had the privilege of speaking to a few of you. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I do not expect this mission to be easy, and neither should you. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we are coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all... we will stop him!" Shepard said finishing his speech. He then heard the sound of clapping and whistles from everyone in the CIC. He looked back to see everyone was in agreement with him. Smiling he looked back at Joker.

"Well said, Shepard. Captain would be proud." Joker said smiling at him with respect.

"Anderson gave up everything so we could have this chance. Let's not waste it shall we." Shepard said smiling back.

"Yes Sir!" Joker said with a nod.

"Joker, plot a course to the Artemis Tau Cluster. We might find a potential link to Saren there." Shepard said as he walked away.

"You got it." Joker responded back. Shepard made his way over to the lower level while receiving appraising nods from the crew before he realized something. He quickly turned to Pressly.

"Hey uh Pressly?" Shepard asked a little embarrassed.

"Yes Sir?" Pressly said curious as to what Shepard needed to know.

"Um Where do I sleep?" Shepard asked a little sheepish about the subject. Pressly gave a raised eyebrow at the question.

"Have you ever served on a warship before? I know you owned a ship." He asked Shepard.

"I never served on a warship no." Shepard responded shaking his head.

"Well where did you sleep on your previous ship?" Pressly asked, oddly reminded at how Shepard looked like a kid with how he answered.

"In the med-bay, but I don't think Chakwas would let me sleep there unless I was injured." Shepard said. Pressly just looked at him as if he couldn't figure him out.

"You're telling me that you didn't sleep in the crew quarters of your ship and instead slept in your med-bay?" Pressly asked in a deadpanned voice.

"Yes, because if I ever got attacked by someone and I was injured in the process, I would be where I would need to be immediately." Shepard said thinking it was reasonable.

"Well, what if someone was already in there?" Pressly asked as if he was talking to a child.

"Then I would be sleeping in the pilot's chair, but I think Joker would kill me if I did that." Shepard said just knowing Joker would blow a gasket if that ever happened hear. He was sure he was right when he saw Pressly nod at that answer.

"Well Shepard since you are in command of the Normandy, you have the Captain's private quarters." Pressly said giving Shepard directions to where it was. Shepard nodded in thanks as he made his way to his new room. He had to admit it was nice as far military goes. He was about to take his armor off when he thought of something. Quickly moving around, he scanned the room with his omni-tool and found 2 bugs. He quickly opened them up and tried find where it was sending info too, but they self-destructed stopping from finding out who was watching. He had a pretty good idea of who was watching from the expensive and black looking one. Shepard grumbled 'shadow broker' as he looked at it. Then he was wondering who the second one belong to. The only indication of any organization it belonged to was the symbol of a narrow hexagon with 2 things that looked to be holding it. Shepard pondered it for awhile until Isaac brought him out to reality again.

"Wow, this place is stale." Isaac commented after taking a once over around the room.

"Well, it is a military craft after all." Shepard said back.

"True, but that is no excuse." Isaac retorted.

"Fair enough." Shepard said with no real fight in his voice as he changed out his armor and into his pitch black fatigues.

"Hey Isaac?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"Are there any planets with any major prothean ruins in the Artemis Tau Cluster?" Shepard asked thinking he could narrow his search down a little.

"Let me see... Yea, only one worth mentioning is Therum in the Knossos System. Does that help?" Isaac asked.

"A bunch! Thanks Isaac." Shepard said as he made his way to the door.

"No problem Shepard." Isaac responded then quieting down when Shepard stepped through the door.

"Think it's time I have a chat with the crew." Shepard said thinking about who he should talk to first. He then looked around and noticed the elevator. He decided he might as well try it out and see where it goes.

A few minutes later

'Can this thing go any slower?!' Shepard thought driven mad by how slow the elevator was going. Finally the elevator stopped. He waited for a minute.

'Seriously!' Shepard thought thinking he should use his power strike on the damn door when finally opened.

'Thank God!' Shepard thought relieved that it opened. He then walked out and noticed Ashley, Wrex and Garrus were in the shuttle bay. He first walked over to Wrex and decided to talk with him.

"Nice ship you've got, Shepard. What can I do for you?" Wrex said as Shepard walked in front of him.

"What's your story Wrex?" Shepard asked knowing a krogan as old as Wrex had to have a few stories.

"There's no story. Go ask the quarian or turian if you want stories." Wrex said with a deadpanned face.

"Come on, you krogan live for centuries. Don't tell me you haven't had a few interesting adventures." Shepard said smirking. Wrex looked back him with an annoyed expression.

"Well there was this one time that the turians almost wiped out my entire race. That was fun." Wrex said with sarcasm. Shepard couldn't help but wince at that.

"Yeah I heard about that. I also heard that they tried to do something similar to the humans during First Contact." Shepard said.

"It's not the same." Wrex with a sharp tone.

"How is it different?" Shepard asked with a raised brow.

"Are your people infected with a genetic mutation? An infection that makes only a few in a thousand children survive birth? And I suppose it's destroying your species?" Wrex said, eyes boring into Shepard.

"Damn, your right. For what it's worth I'm sorry." Shepard said feeling a little ashamed at his ignorance. Wrex, seeing his expression, sighed.

"I don't expect you to understand, but don't compare humanity's fate with the krogan." Wrex said.

"Hey, I said sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Shepard retorted.

"Your ignorance doesn't upset me, Shepard. As for the krogan, I gave up on them a long time ago. The genophage infected us, but it isn't killing us." Wrex said looking down at the floor.

"Hey, I've always been curious about the genophage. What can you tell me about it?" Shepard asked.

"Ask the salarians for details. They made it. All I know is it makes breeding impossible. Thousands die in stillbirth, and most never get that far." Shepard knew that the genophage was bad, but he hadn't thought it would be that bad.

"Jesus Wrex that's... that's a fate worse than death." Shepard said nearly speechless at the implications. Wrex could only nod at his assessment.

"Every krogan is infected. Every one, and no one is rushing to find a cure." Wrex continued. Shepard stared at him shocked.

"The genophage won't last forever right? I mean I know the Council can be a bunch of jackasses, but they wouldn't let a race die, would they?" Shepard asked looking at Wrex. Shepard just couldn't see himself do that to any race, let alone the Council. If the batarians were going to go extinct, Shepard wouldn't let his hatred for the slavers blind him from the bigger picture. He would have helped. He saw Wrex shrug at his question in response.

"I honestly don't know, Shepard. I'm not going to hold my breath for it though." Wrex said to him. Shepard could understand that well enough.

"Why don't the krogan try to find a cure?" Shepard asked hoping that the krogan were at least trying.

"When was the last time you saw a krogan scientist?" Wrex asked him rhetorically with a raised eyebrow.

"Never." Shepard said with his head down a little.

"You ask a krogan if would rather find a cure for the genophage or fight for credits? He'll choose fighting every time. It's just who we are Shepard. I can't change that. Nobody can." Wrex said explaining things to Shepard.

"Only if you give up trying." Shepard said looking at Wrex right in the eyes. Wrex looked right back at Shepard and was silent for a little while with an unreadable expression. He then humphed at Shepard and turned his head away.

"Are your people really dying?" Shepard asked. Wrex turned right back at him when he asked that.

"We're sure not getting any stronger. We're to spread out. None of us are interested in staying in our home system." Wrex said as he paced back in forth.

"I don't understand, lots of species have left their homes and prospered." Shepard asked Wrex confused.

"But they go to colonize new worlds. We're not settlers, we're warriors and we fight. So instead we leave. Hire ourselves out and most never go back." Wrex said with a solemn voice.

"Well so long Wrex." Shepard said as a goodbye.

"Shepard." Wrex returned. Shepard was now walking toward Ashley thinking she could use a good talk. Plus this might be his chance to get to know her. As he walked over he could see that she was working maintenance on the guns. When he got close enough she started the conversation.

"Sir." Ashley said in a formal tone. Shepard couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her.

"No need for that Ashley. I have no real military rank nor do I care for such things. Just call me Shepard."

"Uh okay then Shepard." She said.

"So how do you like things here on the Normandy?" Shepard asked hoping she was okay.

"It's fine serving on a warship." She retorted.

"Okay, I was hoping that if you want to, and its cool if you don't, talk about Eden Prime." Shepard said thinking that she could need someone to vent to. He noticed that her stoic expression cracked into a saddened one.

"To be honest? I kind of wished you got there sooner, Shepard." Ash said after a minute. Shepard only nodded his head feeling like it was his fault at what she was feeling.

"No offense, I appreciate the rescue. I just wish..." She continued while looking to the side.

"That I had been able to save the rest of your team." Shepard finished for her with an understanding tone.

"Yes. If I had been more alert, we wouldn't have been cut down by an ambush." She said chastising herself.

"Listen, you didn't know it was geth in the first place. They are perfect ambushers: they don't move, make noise or even breath." Shepard said trying to lighten it up.

"Shepard, they have flashlight heads and don't worry, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." she said with a serious voice.

"Well okay I guess. Do you want to talk, you know one-to-one?" Shepard said hoping to steer the conversation in a new direction.

"I'm sorry Shepard, I have things that I need to get squared away. I wouldn't mind talking more later though." Ash said.

"Well okay then. Talk to ya later Ash." Shepard said as he began to walk away.

"Shepard wait." He heard Ash say. He turned back to her

"Yes?"

"Did you mean what you said? At the bar during your stay on Eden Prime, about my grandfather?" Ash asked with a little apprehension.

"Yes. To me he was a real leader. Someone who looks forward at the challenges in front of them, but knows to also look behind to see who follows them is a real leader to me. Your grandfather did both. He's a real hero." Shepard said as he walked away once more toward Garrus. He could have sworn he heard Ash whisper 'Thank You' as moved. He had met up with Garrus who was in front of a Mako.

"Hello Garrus." Shepard said as Garrus looked up at him.

"Hello Shepard, I wanted to thank you for bringing me on board. I knew working with a spectre would be better than life at c-sec." Garrus said back.

"Have you worked with a spectre before?"

"Well no, but I do know what they're like. Spectre's make their own rules. Basically you are free to handle things your way." Garrus said explaining the marginal view of spectre's.

"Well what's it like in c-sec?" Shepard asked. He was curious with how cops acted. On Omega, the closest thing they had for a cop was one of Aria's thugs and him. There was a huge gap between him and the former though with how they handled things. For the thug as long as it wasn't to disruptive in the club and it in no real way affected Aria, then it wasn't his problem. If the thug stepped in he could be bribed off. For Shepard, as Ghost, he would stun and drug both people involved to find out what happened. If it was self defense and depending on the assailant, Shepard would let the innocent go and scare the hell out of the other. If it was both, he scared them both. He noticed Garrus was starting to talk as he reminisced about old times.

"At c-sec? Your buried in rules, the damn bureaucrats are always on your back." Garrus said with the turian equivalent of a scowl.

"Well I can understand a little, but you know the rules are there for a reason." Shepard said having a feeling that Garrus is looking for a chance to break past the rules.

"Maybe, but sometimes it feels like the rules are only there to stop from doing my work. If I'm taking down a suspect, it shouldn't matter how I do it, as long as I do it." Garrus said. Now that set off some alarm bells in Shepard's head. Sure he had done some bad things to slavers and pirates in the past, but he tried to never let any innocents get caught in the crossfire and if he did, he would find away to get them out of it. The way Garrus was thinking involved that. He was going to have to nip that in the bud.

"But c-sec wants it done their way: Protocol and Procedure come first. That's why I left." Garrus continued on. Okay time to put a stop to that train of thought.

"So you just quit because you didn't like the way they did things?" Shepard asked trying to steer Garrus into a more decent way of thinking.

"There's more to it than that. It didn't start out bad, but as I rose up in ranks, I got more and more saddled with red tape." Okay this is where things started.

"C-sec's handling of Saren was typical. I just couldn't take it anymore. I hate leaving..." Garrus said as he seemed to be reflecting on his choices. 'Good that means he can still be brought back' Shepard surmised as he studied Garrus' movements.

"Well, I hope you made the right choice. I would hate for you to regret it later." Shepard said still trying to gouge Garrus' personality.

"Well, that's sort of why I teamed up with you. It's a chance for me to get off the Citadel and see how things are done outside of c-sec. Either way, I plan to make the most of it." Garrus said. 'So he is eager and willing to learn huh? I can work with that.' Shepard thought to himself smiling.

"And without c-sec HQ looking over my shoulder, well, maybe I can get the job done my way for a change." Garrus said smirking in anticipation. And now Shepard's smile disappeared.

"Look Garrus, I'm all for using some unorthodox tactics when it comes to the bad guys, but if getting the job done means endangering innocent people, then forget it. We get it done the right way, not the fast way. Understand?" Shepard lectured. Garrus' eyes went wide at that.

"I wasn't trying to- yes. I understand, Shepard." Garrus said realizing what he had implied.

"Okay well then, see you Garrus. I'm going to talk with Tali now." Shepard said as he turned toward the cargo bay waving back. As Shepard made his way in he saw an older man in formal suit walking toward him. Then stuck his hand out and Shepard shook his hand.

"Hello, Sir. I'm Chief Engineer Adams. I keep the engine going with my team." Adams said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Adams. The name's Shepard, or Ghost if you prefer." Shepard said being polite.

"Likewise Sir. Uh hey, you know the quarian? Tali? She's been spending all her time down here asking about our engines." Adams said looking at Shepard with an inquisitive look.

"Is there a problem?" Shepard asked, hoping there wasn't one.

"What? No! She's amazing! I wish my guys were half as smart as she is. Give her a month on board and she'll know more about the engines then I do!" Shepard released a breath he had been holding in. It was good that one of the major crewman had high praise for one of the new members.

"She's got a real knack for technology, that one. I can see why you brought along." Adams continued on, oblivious to Shepard's relief.

"I figure she would be a real asset to the team." Shepard responded.

"You have an eye for talent, Shepard. But I guess your not down here for a conversations huh?" Adams said.

"Actually, I'm getting to know the crew. Figured that if I'm it's captain, temporary or otherwise, I should make an effort in knowing my crew." Shepard explained.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Adams asked gently smiling at Shepard's effort to get know everyone.

"Well uh how about the Normandy? What do you know about her?" Shepard asked trying to break the ice.

"She's the best ship I ever served on. Probably the fastest vessel ever designed and she's the only using the Tantalus drive core." Adams said.

"What's so special about the drive core?" Shepard asked curious.

"Proportionally, it's about twice the size of any other vessel. Not only are we faster, but we can run at FTL speeds longer before we have to discharge the core." Adams explained.

"What about the stealth system?" Shepard asked.

"You can't hide a ship out in space. They emit too much heat and radiation. Too easy for sensors to pick up. Unless you find a way to capture those emissions." Adams explained. Shepard realized the secret. The plans the batarian's stole all those years ago were the same plans that were now instilled into the Normandy.

"So our stealth system traps the energy we give off in storage sinks built into the ship itself. No emissions to give away our location. Eventually the sinks have to be vented. More than a few hours silent running and they overheat. Cook us inside our own hull." Adams continued to explain.

"So there is no way for anyone to detect us?" Shepard asked trying to get to know.

"A visual scan can still pick us up. Anyone looking out a window could see us as plain as day, but you have a to be pretty close to get an actual visual out in space." Adams continued on. Shepard nodded in understanding.

"Go on." Shepard said.

"As long as the stealth systems are engaged, they can't see us. Not unless we accelerate to FTL." Adams explained.

"Why doesn't it work with faster than light travel?" Shepard asked.

(You know what? I'm skipping this!)

"Well thanks for the info Adams. See ya." Shepard said as he walked toward Tali. He finally got to her when she started talking to him.

"Your ship's amazing Shepard! I've never seen a drive core like this before. I can't believe they were able to fit it into a ship this small." Tali said all giddy.

"Yeah I can understand why." Shepard said agreeing with her.

"I'm starting to understand why you humans have been so successful. I had no idea Alliance vessels were so advanced!" Tali continued on.

"From what I understand the Normandy is a prototype. Cutting edge technology." Shepard said trying to make conversation.

"(Giggles) A month ago, I was patching a makeshift fuel line into a converted tug ship in the flotilla. Now I'm on board one of the most advanced vessels in Citadel space." Tali said. Unlike everyone else, Shepard could see her expressions through her mask. So he could see the beautiful smile on her face.

"I have to thank you again for bringing me along. Traveling on a vessel like this is a dream come true for me." Tali said happily.

"Well it's nice to see you smiling and happy Tali." Shepard then saw her get embarrassed at his words even blushing.

"Thank you, Shepard." Tali said shyly rubbing her fingers together.

"So, I had no idea you found ship tech so interesting." Shepard said after a long silence.

"It comes with being a quarian. The Migrant Fleet is the key to the survival of my people. Ships are our most valuable resource. Sadly we don't have anything like this. We make do with cast-offs and second-hand equipment. We just try to keep them running for as long as we can. Some of our fleets larger vessels date back to our original flight from the geth." Tali explained to him. Now Shepard was looking at her shocked.

"If your fleet is using ships that are 3 centuries old, you're going to have to teach me how make it last." Shepard said wanting to learn more.

"(Giggles) I'm afraid any lessons I can give you on ships would be unnecessary, unless its with hacking. Anyway, our ships are constantly being repaired, modified and refitted. They aren't pretty, but they work. Mostly." Tali told him. 'Well nothing's perfect, I'll take what I can get.' Shepard thought to himself.

"We've tried to make ourselves as independent as possible on the flotilla. Grow our own food, mine and process our own fuel." Tali listed off.

"The more you talk about it the more I admire you and your people." Shepard said smiling. He saw a brief smile cross her face and then vanished.

"But some things we just can't make on our own. A patch to maintain the hull integrity requires raw materials we just don't have. That's why our Pilgrimages are so important." Tali told him. Shepard then realized that the Pilgrimage was more than a right of passage, it was a means of keeping the Fleet running as well.

"Well Tali, tell me more about your people and the Pilgrimage." Shepard said. And so Tali told him everything ranging from her people's government to her pilgrimage. All in all he found it very informative to say the least. By the end of it he had a new found respect for the quarian people.

"Well Tali thank you for talking with me. It was nice having a conversation with you." Shepard said as he walked away.

"See you later, Shepard." Tali said as she got back to work. Shepard then walked toward the med-bay, taking the elevator (From Hell) back up. When he entered, he met with Doctor Chakwas.

"Hey crazy lady!" Wrong thing to say. Especially when she pulled out the scalpel and lemon juice needle.

"It was a joke! Come on!" Shepard said in hysterics. She put the things away with that.

"Shepard could you come over here? You need to see something." Chakwas said seriously.

"If it's a baby thermometer forget it." Shepard said keeping his distance. She gave him a glare in turn.

"No it's your blood work I took when you were unconscious you numb skull! Now look at it!" She ordered. He walked over to the monitor and noticed the differences in his DNA.

"What is that?" Shepard asked in a whisper.

"Genetic modifications and I'm guessing you didn't know until now?" Chakwas asked him.

"I always had suspicions that this might be the case but I didn't really expect it. Do you know when this happened?" Shepard asked trying to figure this out.

"From what I can tell, it was present when you were a baby." Chakwas said quietly. Shepard froze at that. 'Did mom know? What does all this mean? No, no I can't let this compromise who I am. It has been with me since I was a baby so its no big deal. But how did it get there? Who put it there?' All these things were zooming around in his head until Chakwas snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Do you think your parents could have something to do with it? If this was illegal genetic modification then one of them might know." Chakwas said.

"Well we can't ask mom since she's been dead for 18 years now." Shepard said dryly. Chakwas flinched at what he said. She was mentally kicking herself for bringing that up.

"What of your father?" She asked hoping it wasn't a sore subject.

"Never met him. From what mom told me when I was little, he wasn't worth meeting." Shepard said in a dead tone. Now Chakwas mentally beating the hell out of herself. Of course the Ghost of the Terminus would have serious issues. Any one who goes up against a criminal organization alone willingly would!

"Sorry Shepard." Chakwas apologized. He looked at her seeing her saddened expression.

"Look you didn't know, so there is nothing to feel guilty about. See ya around." Shepard said as he walked out. 'What am I?' He thought to himself. He then made his way up the stairs and over to the CIC where he moved toward the cockpit to talk to Joker. When he finally arrived he spoke with Joker.

"Hey Joker, are we there yet?" Shepard asked still reeling from the DNA bombshell.

"We are coming up to the cluster in a few minutes. Do you know the system or planet we should go to? You know so we don't spend all week looking through system after system, planet after planet?" Joker said.

"Yeah, Therum in the Knossos System." Shepard said in a tired voice.

"Oh you got both? Well awesome, now if only we knew where on the planet we should be looking at." Joker said.

"Any part of the planet that has a big amount of prothean ruins." Shepard said.

"You have an answer for everything don't you?" Joker said smirking.

"I wish I did." Shepard said. Sensing something was wrong with Shepard Joker turned around to see Shepard looking as if he had one hell of a rough night.

"God, Shepard what happened? Did you get into a fight with that krogan we have on board, whats his name? Wrex!" Joker said worrying about Shepard.

"No, just got some shell shocking news. Nothing to worry about. I'm going to go meet up with the team." Shepard said walking away. Joker looked on worrying about what could have affected Shepard like that.

A Few Minutes Later

Shepard and the ground team were now in the shuttle bay with Shepard right beside the crate he had brought on board and everyone else was in front of him.

"Okay everyone, while we were on the Citadel I noticed that even though we have decent armor and weapons, Saren and his minions would still outclass us. So I took the liberty of buying all of us Colossus armor X-series. As well as modifications that improve our shield generators, shield recovery, toxin resistance, and even heal us while in a fight. For those of us who use omni-tools I bought several Savant omni-tools, also X-series. For our biotics, I bought several Bio-Amps also Savants X-series. As for weapons, apparently you need to be a certified spectre to use these otherwise you could be arrested on sight. But I can give you my old weapons which are also X-series. They all have the mods that allow them to shoot more and with greater accuracy, as a bonus they are all equipped with the highest quality tungsten rounds I could my hands on. My own weapons have the same modifications. Now Ash you get my Kovlayov assault rifle. Kaidan, my Karpov pistol. Garrus, my Volkov sniper rifle. Wrex and Tali, both of my Sokolov shotguns. I know these weapons will help you greatly on this mission. With that please equip yourselves." After he said all of that, everyone made their way over to the now open crate getting their armor, omni-tools, bio-amps and whatever modifications they preferred to use. By the end of it Shepard and his team where all in Colossus X-series armed to the teeth. Joker called in over the intercom saying that they were now approaching the drop point and that they should all get ready.

"Alright people, into the mako! Let's go move it!" Shepard ordered as he felt the ship shutter from entering the atmosphere. With the last one in he jumped into the drivers seat and prepared to do his first real combat drop.

Whew! Tell me what you think of the story so far ! If you have any ideas send them over. Any flames go ahead.


	9. Therum

Recap: "Alright people, into the mako! Let's go move it!" Shepard ordered as he felt the ship shutter from entering the atmosphere. With the last one in he jumped into the drivers seat and prepared to do his first real combat drop.

Now

The Normandy was now heading in low for the drop off. Her garage doors opened and the mako with Shepard and his squad came tumbling out. As the mako fell hundreds of meters down, the thrusters were ignited to slow it down. On the inside, things were a little more lively with the squad's reactions.

"AAAHHH!" Tali screamed, holding onto Kaidan, since it was her first combat drop. Kaidan in return was looking like he was about to pass out from being crushed.

"WOOOHOOO!" Shepard whooped as they went down.

Wrex was asleep, snoring as the whole thing went down.

Garrus and Ashley were holding onto their seats for dear life trying desperately not to laugh at Tali crushing Kaidan. They finally touched down with a few thuds. Tali was shaking like a leaf, Wrex was now awake and looking around, Kaidan was desperately trying to fill his lungs with precious oxygen, while Ash and Garrus were dying of laughter. With all this going around, Shepard was going "Let's go again, let's go again!"

"NO!" Tali and Kaidan shouted at him for obvious reasons.

"Aww" Shepard groaned at their reaction. Ash, Garrus and now Wrex were chuckling at Shepard's expression. Joker's voice cut through their chuckling however.

"Shepard, I'm picking up some strange readings. Really strange, like off the damn charts. It looks like it's coming from an underground complex a few klicks away from the drop zone." Joker said.

"Looks like we have a location now. Awesome, thanks Joker." Shepard as he began driving. After a few minutes passed, along with a lot of bumping into various potholes and ditches, Shepard's squad decided to voice their thoughts.

"Dammit Shepard where did you learn to drive?!" Garrus said after hitting his head for the fifth time on the inside of the mako.

"On Omega, when I stole my first car at 16." Shepard said casually. Now every one of his squad was looking at him as if he was creepy. Shepard noticed that they were all silent so he turned around to see all their shocked faces.

"What?" Shepard asked as he turned back to watch where he was going. Garrus then spoke first.

"You were a criminal?" He said in a even tone.

"No, not when you are on Omega. Stealing a car on Omega is pretty much stealing from a another thief, especially if it's a good car." Shepard explained.

"What kind of car was it?" Tali asked her quarian engineering senses tingling. Shepard pondered it for a while then responded.

"It was an X3M skycar. I stole it from one of the local drug lords so it was pretty new. After that I modified it a lot." Shepard said. Now Tali was wanting know what he did to modify it.

"What did you add to it?" Tali asked eagerly.

"Well, I gave it a new paint job, added a stealth and camouflage system into it. Made sure it had a comm link with an ID Disguiser, tinted windows that can take all different kinds of rounds except missiles or rockets. Also even added armor and weapons too. Also a chip to make it go faster." Shepard listed off about his car. He figured Tali was drooling at the thought of seeing his car when he told her that.

"Shepard could you show it to me some time? Please?" Tali said sweetly. There it was!

"Ehh, I'll think about it." Shepard said smirking at her.

"Damn Shepard! Stealing, taking on slavers, becoming a millionaire and becoming somewhat famous in the galaxy. What haven't you done?" Kaidan asked.

"Well, I haven't saved the galaxy from huge enough threat." Then Shepard snorted. "Yea like that'll ever happen." Shepard said shaking his head. (Yea keep thinking like that Shepard) Everyone silently agreed with him.

"Well Shepard I don't thi-" Ash began to say till the mako was rocked by something.

"What the hell?!" Ash said. Shepard looked around for any sign of where the attack came from and noticed something further away. A light suddenly appeared from it, then 2 others from the left side of it and they seemed to be getting bigger. Tali must have seen them as well.

"Geth turrents!" she exclaimed. Shepard hit the thrusters just in time to dodge the shots which flew under them.

"Someone get on the gun and return fire!" Shepard said as they landed. Ash had immediately hopped on it and used the mass accelerator cannon, but missed. Shepard dodged several more geth shots while Ashley kept firing and missing. Garrus then moved her out of it and tried his turn with the cannon and scored perfectly. He did it again with the other 2.

"Whew, damn gun could use some calibrating still." Garrus said as he turned and saw Ash giving him a look.

"Sorry Williams, it's just I thought I should have a go at it." Garrus said as she relented with it.

"It's fine Garrus, I guess you should use the cannon." Ash said after a minute. That was when Shepard cut in.

"Okay, here's how things are going to go while in the Mako: Garrus uses the cannon since he is more precise while Ash uses the machine gun since sustained rapid fire weaponry is her forte, Tali and Kaidan will do any repairs necessary while Wrex rides shotgun with me in case we need someone to go outside and beat the hell out of something. Seem fair?" Shepard said explaining their new stations. Everyone nodded since it did play to there strengths. With that everyone continued on in the mako, encountering groups of geth, including armatures, and geth turrents until they came up to something. It was a stonghold of some kind that had 3 geth turrents right in front of it.

"Only a fool punches a nathak in the mouth. We should sneak around and pull its tail." Wrex said looking at the turrents in front of them.

"Yea lets go around through this way on the right." Shepard said as he drove to the path going around the stronghold only to come face to with a geth turrent. They quickly used the cannon and the machine gun to destroy it. They then made their way to the point where they could see the inside of the stronghold.

"Look at all the geth." Shepard said seeing a few troopers and Juggernauts.

"Yea and they have a lot cover to use." Garrus said seeing the places inside that could provide cover.

"Any ideas on what to do?" Ashley asked.

"Why don't we just fly in there, guns blazing?" Wrex said.

"You mean drive in there, get out of the mako and start shooting at every geth insight?" Kaidan said deadpanned.

"Yes." Wrex said with an excited nod.

"I got a better idea." Shepard said gunning the accelerator. The mako charged right into the open, running over geth troopers. Ashley turned the machine gun on further geth away. Then when the machine gun overheated, Garrus took over with the cannon and shot any Juggernauts, completely destroying them. As the fighting ended, Shepard got out and went to activate the door leading further out. He then got back in the mako and drove everyone out of the stonghold. They continued on fighting more geth units of several kinds. Shepard's sixth sense picked up on something.

"Something big is up there." Shepard said sensing a lot of electric energy in one spot.

"How do you know? The scanners don't say anything." Tali said confused as to why Shepard said that. He looked at her for a second and realized that she wasn't with him when he told everyone about his sixth sense.

"I have an ability to sense a sizable amount of electric or biotic energy. If geth units, or powerful biotics, are close enough I can sense them. From this distance though it has to be big for a geth if I can sense it from here." Shepard explained to her. Like everyone else before she was shocked at how strange Shepard was. He then continued.

"Tali, you know the geth better than any of us. Is there anything big for the geth that it generates a huge amount electricity needed to power itself?" Shepard asked her. Tali pondered it for a few seconds thinking of what kind of geth tech could use a lot of power.

"If I had to guess I would think it'd either be a geth colossus or a geth drop ship." She said.

"We've seen a drop ship, but what does a colossus look like?" Wrex asked. Everyone nodded their heads wanting to know as well.

"Do you remember the armatures we took out earlier?" Tali asked them.

"Yea." Wrex said for everyone.

"A colossus is a bigger, stronger version of that." Tali said.

"Well, its a good thing we are in this then." Wrex said. Shepard could only nod as they drove forward and sure enough they came face to face with a Colossus.

"Damn, that better be the biggest ground unit the geth have otherwise we might be in trouble." Kaidan said aloud. Before anyone else could say anything Shepard floored the mako right at the Colossus.

"What are you doing Shepard?!" Ash yelled out.

"Giving us an opening!" Shepard yelled back. He drove the mako to dodge the energy balls the colossus shot at them and rammed it, knocking it over.

"Fire everything!" Shepard told ordered. As soon as they heard that, Garrus and Ashley unloaded everything until both weapons overheated. In the end, the colossus was down for good riddled with bullet holes. Shepard then drove into the nearby tunnel when Kaidan decided to speak up.

"So Shepard why were you on vacation anyway?" he said trying to make idle conversation.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"Well I just thought guys like you do not really take vacations, they just go home and take a few days off." Kaidan explained.

"Oh that? Well I needed to get off Omega for a while and Aria offered me some time away." Shepard said.

"Why did you need to get off? Bounty Hunters?" Ashley asked. Wrex looked at her with an annoyed stare.

"No." Shepard said.

"Assassins?" Garrus asked.

"Nope." Shepard responded.

"Alliance Recruiters?" Kaidan spoke up.

"No, if it was them, they would be the ones leaving." Shepard said.

"Then what?" Tali asked.

"Bad break up." Shepard said simply. When he said that, all of them had their full attention on him. Light shined back into the mako as they came out of the tunnel.

"What?" Wrex asked this time.

"I went on vacation because I was depressed about my girlfriend and I breaking up." Shepard said simply.

"Wow, she must be something if you and her were together." Kaidan said wondering who could've gotten Shepard to be in a relationship. Ashley and Tali were both relieved and slightly jealous when they heard about this woman.

"Yea she was." Shepard said simply.

"So who broke up with who?" Ash asked bluntly. Shepard didn't speak for a full minute causing everyone, even Wrex to worry about him. Ash was about to say he didn't have to say anything when he spoke up again.

"She broke up with me." Shepard said with voice holding his sadness.

"What! Why?!" Tali blurted out.

"I honestly don't know." Shepard said.

"Did you 2 fight a lot?" Kaidan asked.

"No."

"Were you too clingy?" Ash asked.

"No that was her actually."

"Did you abuse her?" Garrus asked staring intently at Shepard.

"Never!" he snapped causing Garrus to apologize.

"Did you both mate a lot?" Wrex asked. Everyone but Shepard looked at him. Shepard was blushing a little though.

"Yes." Shepard said in a soft voice.

"With each other?" Wrex continued.

"Yes." Shepard said looking offended.

"Did you cheat?" Wrex asked.

"Completely faithful."

"She might have cheated on you." Wrex said.

"Thought of it, asked her mother since she has a lot influence and ears on Omega. So that's a no." Shepard said. Wrex hmmed for a minute.

"Blackmail?" Wrex offered.

"Checked it, nothing."

Wrex then looked thoughtful again for a few minutes with everyone looking to see what he came up with next.

"Wait you said her mother had a lot of influence on Omega?" Wrex asked.

"Yes."

"The only other thing I can think of is that she might have been pregnant and broke up with you to protect you." Wrex said. Shepard slammed on the brakes hard when he heard that. So hard that Wrex hit his head on the metal dashboard and everyone else was disoriented, save Shepard. Shepard slowly turned his head over in Wrex's direction with Wrex seeing Shepard's stare. Everyone else noticed and were a little scared for Shepard and Wrex. Shepard because this news was serious and Wrex because Shepard could snap and kill him. Their fears were unwarranted when Shepard spoke up.

"Okay after this Saren business is over I'm making a b-line to Omega and finding out what the hell happened." Shepard said as he started driving again. Everyone was silent as he continued to drive on noticing how deep in thought he was. Ash and Tali were both staring at him, worrying about what he could find out. Both women were also jealous of the woman who Shepard was in a relationship with and were relieved and mad at the woman to. Tali had a little crush on him since he had saved her and was nice to her in comparison to how others treated quarians. To her, Shepard was something special. For Ash, she had started to get stirrings when he seemed to be not as strict as other people were when they found out who her family was. In fact he showed he thought of it in a positive way. She also noticed that Shepard had way about talking to others easily as well as being concerned for everyone, with himself being last on the list. Plus he had a nice body she couldn't help but admire so that was a bonus. But for now it wasn't any real romantic feelings for him, not yet anyway. After driving for a little while longer and encountering a few more pockets of geth, they came up to an obstruction.

"There is no way we are going to drive the mako through or over it." Garrus said seeing the rock that blocked them.

"Yea, only way through it is on foot." Shepard said putting his helmet on.

"What's with the helmet Shepard?" Kaidan asked noticing it.

"The way I see it, we're going to go through a narrow passage that doesn't have a lot of room to maneuver through, and there could be geth on the other side. I don't know about you, but I want all my bases covered." Shepard said. After hearing that everyone, but Tali put there helmets on thinking it was a good idea to follow Shepard's lead. Even Wrex did it even though it wouldn't kill him if the geth got him in the head, it would still hurt like hell. Everyone exited the mako with their weapons out.

"Okay Wrex I want you in front of everyone when we go through. Garrus your in the back to take out any long range targets. Ash, your behind Wrex to take out any closer targets. Tali and Kaidan, you 2 stick together and provide support for Wrex and Ashley." Shepard said taking out his sniper rifle.

"And what will you do Shepard?" Tali asked tilting her head in curiosity.

"Me? I'll be testing out my new sniper with Garrus." Shepard said holding his sniper out to emphasize his point.

"Oh, okay." Tali said nodding in agreement.

"If I didn't know any better Shepard, I'd say your scared." Wrex said teasingly. Shepard just smirked at him.

"Believe me Wrex, I wish I was the one going first, you heard what I did on Elysium." Shepard said. Wrex nodded at that. Then Shepard added on, "Besides, Garrus can't cover everyone and you alone. You make a big target." Shepard said smiling.

"Very funny." Wrex said. They all walked through the passage and were immediately under fire when they came out. They all took cover as they pushed on with Wrex and Ashley taking care of the ground troops with Tali and Kaidan weakening other units using overload and warp respectfully. Shepard and Garrus both saw geth snipers and rocket troopers on the towers and higher ground. Both took their shots hitting a few. One rocket trooper fired at Shepard who also fired a round, hitting the rocket which caused it to explode in mid-air. Shepard then took the second shot and nailed the geth right in front light. Garrus whistled when he saw that.

"Damn Shepard that was a nice one." he said.

"Thanks, it would've been batter if I only used one shot though." Shepard responded.

"That would be awesome." Garrus said.

"I know." Shepard said smiling. Everyone was looking at the two talking about sniper rifles and awesome shots they could use and couldn't help chuckle at them. Garrus and Shepard looked at them, noticing their laughter.

"Well, we'll talk about it later. Now let's get moving and don't let your guard down." Shepard said taking the lead, switching his sniper with his assault rifle. Everyone got serious as they followed keeping their eyes out for anything that could be waiting for an ambush opportunity. They finally came to some kind of structure that appeared to be the entrance to a mine with several platforms holding crates. That was when Shepard felt something.

"Hey hold up. I think there's a geth nearby." Shepard said carefully looking around. Everyone else looked in different directions trying to find what Shepard was sensing. Shepard then pinpointed the direction it was coming from.

"Above!" Shepard yelled as he saw a geth hopper fall and then jump to somewhere else. He and everyone tried to shoot it, but it was too quick to get a decent shot in. That was when Shepard felt a huge electric signature coming there way from behind, quickly. Shepard turned only to see a geth drop ship fly over and pass them. The ship's hangar bay opened and several geth units dropped down. Now Shepard was a little nervous as was everyone but Wrex who looked like a kid in a candy store. Shepard wasn't nervous because of the troopers or the rocket drone or even the hoppers. No it was because of the Colossus that was dropped off and they weren't in the mako.

"Take cover!" Shepard yelled out as he dove behind the nearest crate, everyone else did so too narrowly missing the storm of bullets and rockets flying at them.

"Now it's getting fun! HAHA!" Wrex said laughing.

"Glad your having a good time Wrex." Shepard said over the explosions. He then tried to come up with a decent strategy to take out the enemy. 'This amount of ground troops would be easy if it weren't for that damn Colossus. How can we take it without having to worry about the other geth though?' Shepard thought to himself. He then saw the structure to left which was easily higher than the Colossus was. 'That'll work.' Shepard thought having a plan in mind.

"Hey guys distract the geth while I sneak around and take care of the Colossus." Shepard said fiddling with his omni-tool.

"And how do plan to that Shepard?" Ashley asked.

"You'll see." Shepard said activating his tactical cloak. Now cloaked, he moved over to where the structure was and quickly climbed the ladder-like part of so he could get on top. As soon as he did he walked over to where the Colossus was standing. By that time the cloak had deactivated, but the geth where still focused on his squad. They however noticed him.

"What is he doing?" Kaidan said putting his barrier up.

"Not a clue." Wrex said as he fired off a few more shoots.

"He's not going to jump on it is he?" Tali said worried while taking cover.

"I think he just might." Garrus said using overload on a nearby hopper.

That's insane." Ashley said waiting for her new rifle to cool down. They all then noticed Shepard was holding something in his hand, a biotic light.

"What is that?" Tali asked. Everyone else saw it and realized what Shepard was up to now.

"He's going to use that move on the Colossus." Kaidan said realizing what was going to happen. Shepard had now charged up his Power Strike to its current max, indicated by it glowing almost pure white with a shallow purple aura around it. He then jumped off the platform he was on toward the Colossus and slammed the Power Strike right into the back of it. It's shields held up for a while but were quickly overwhelmed by the destructive mass effect fields within the attack. Then the metallic carapace groaned and screeched until it to was completely warped. Finally the attack hit the Colossus' core, causing the attack and it to explode sending Shepard back. When he landed he quickly looked to see everyone, including the geth, looking at him shocked. He took advantage of the situation and used his dual omni-bows to fire 2 omni-bolts at the 2 remaining geth hoppers. The other geth, turned their weapons on Shepard perceiving him to be the bigger threat. (Very true.) Shepard quickly put his barrier up in response.

"Light em up!" Shepard roared to his squad who quickly got out of their stupor and destroyed the remaining geth units who turned their backs to them. When the fight was over Shepard got up and walked over to everyone. Wrex was the first to speak.

"Shepard that was crazy." he said with everyone nodding.

"Yea I know." Shepard said with a knowing smile.

"After this we are going to have spar." Wrex said grinning. Everyone, but Shepard looked at him shock. Shepard just smiled.

"After this mission is over and I have nap, fine." Shepard said as he and Wrex walked towards the mine. Everyone looked on for a few seconds until Kaidan spoke up.

"I got 20 on Shepard." he said.

"I'll put 20 on Wrex." Garrus countered.

"I'll join in with 20 on Shepard then." Tali said not wanting to be left out.

"I guess I'll put 20 on Wrex." Ashley said feeling like she chose the wrong person to bet on. After the bets were made they ran after Shepard and Wrex who were already heading down into the mine. The group continued on until they came to an open-air walkway. That was when Shepard took out his shotgun and quickly fired over the railing hitting a sneaking geth hunter right in the head, killing it. Then 2 troopers came out of cover which were taken care of by Tali and Garrus. They continued on silently as they came to an elevator and piled in going further down into the cavern. The came to another walkway which led to another elevator going further down. As they walked over Shepard switched to his pistol and aimed ahead and fired hitting the middle one of the 3 side by side geth drones that rose up. The other 2 were shot down by Kaidan and Wrex quickly. They all then noticed a section of the prothean ruins uncovered.

"Sterile white. The protheans sure built things homey." Wrex said aloud. The other didn't really pay attention to it as they all piled into the next elevator and went down. This time though the elevator came to screeching halt and opened up midway. Shepard looked out and noticed that the walkway that should've been there was destroyed. He then jumped out with everyone following in two's keeping an eye out for anymore geth. As they continued on Shepard suddenly felt a biotic signature when they all heard a voice.

"Uh hello? Could somebody help me? Please?" the unknown feminine voice said. It sounded like it was directly below them so they walked off toward a more stable part of the walkway and came face to face with an asari floating in some kind of energy bubble.

"Can you hear me out there? I'm trapped and I need help!" the asari said a little frantic.

"I can see that. Are you alright? What happened?" Shepard asked studying the asari before him. She was beautiful for one in her younger years as far as he could tell. Yea, Shepard knew a little about the asari culture and some of things about asari themselves. It happens when your dating one and under the employ of another.

"Listen, this thing I am in is a prothean security device. I cannot move, so I need you to get me out of it. All right?" the asari asked.

"I'm guessing your Dr. Liara T'Soni?" Shepard asked.

"Um yes, how did you-" Liara tried to say until Shepard started asking more questions.

"How did you end up in there anyway?" Shepard asked. Liara stuttered a bit before answering.

"I was exploring the ruins when the geth showed up, so I hid here. Can you believe that? Geth! Beyond the Veil!" Liara explained

"Yea we ran into them on the way over." Shepard said, then he gestured her to continue on.

"I activated the towers defenses. I knew the barrier curtains would keep them out. When I turned it on, I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I was trapped in here. You must get me out. Please." Liara said pleadingly.

"Before I do anything I have to know something." Shepard said.

"What is it?" Liara asked confused.

"Your mother is working with Saren. Whose side are you on?" Shepard asked eyes boring into her.

"What are you talking about? I'm not on anybody's side!" Liara said a little shocked.

"Really." Shepard stated.

"I may be Benezia's daughter, but I'm nothing like her! We haven't spoken to each other in years. Please, just get me out of here." Liara pleaded again. Shepard stared at her trying to find any deception, but found none. He then smiled.

"Okay then. Well, Liara it looks like this ruin is some kind of prison to me so we are going to need to find a way through or under it." Shepard said stating what he was thinking. Then he started powering up his Power Strike all the up again.

"Uh Shepard? I don't that'll work here." Garrus said. Shepard looked at everyone.

"I would suggest you back up." Shepard said. They all scrambled to get a good distance away from him. Liara looked shocked at what he was doing.

"Wait what are you going to do?!" Liara demanded getting scared of the apparently crazy human in front of her.

"Don't worry sweetie, just be quiet and watch." Shepard said smiling as he drove his attack at the barrier in front of him. The barrier and the Power Strike clashed in a brilliant display of light. Shepard's attack was strong as the barrier started to ripple at the amount of force it was dealing with from the unnatural biotic attack, but held strong. This continued for a minute until the barrier finally won and caused Shepard's Power Strike to explode the shockwave sending him back 3 yards away.

"Damn, that barrier's tough. I can see why the geth haven't broken through it yet." Shepard said getting up with everyone coming back.

"W-W-What was that? I haven't seen anyone, not even Matriarchs do that! And they're the most powerful biotics in the galaxy!" Liara said in shock at the move she just witnessed. In her hundred and six years of life, she had never seen anyone even speak of an attack like that, let alone use it. She knew not even a mass accelerator round from a tank could cause the barrier curtain to flash, let alone make it ripple. Yet somehow this human used a biotic technique that did it. A move like that was incredibly dangerous. Not even the asari had ever made anything like it. The closest thing to it would have been reave, but only a few could ever learn to use it. How interesting that this human had this ability.

"Oh my Power Strike?" She heard the human say. It was called Power Strike? An appropriate name for it. She nodded at his question. "I got the idea for it one day when I used warp and singularity against a Thresher Maw to scare it off with the resulting biotic explosion." the human, Shepard, said. She urged him to go on.

"I'll explain it later after we get you out of there." Shepard said finally getting up. Liara mentally slapped her head for forgetting what was going on.

"It's a prothean barrier curtain. I knew it would keep me safe from the geth. But obviously I'm trapped now." She said a little embarrassed at the situation.

"Any ideas?" Shepard asked.

"There is a control in here that should deactivate this thing. You'll have to find some way past the barrier curtain. That's the tricky part. The defenses cannot be shut off from the outside. I don't know how you'll get in here." Liara explained to them.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way around it." Shepard reassured her. She couldn't help but smile at him.

"Be careful. There is a krogan with the geth. They have been trying different ways to get past the barrier." Liara warned.

"Don't worry we 'have one to. Bigger and tougher probably." Shepard said jerking his thumb towards Wrex who nodded grinning. They then went further into the cavern where they came face to face with more geth. It wasn't a lot so it was easy to finish them. That was when Shepard noticed the huge mining laser pointed toward the ground in Liara's general direction.

"Tali, I want you to activate this. We may be able drill under the prothean structure to get to Liara." Shepard said. Tali quickly nodded.

"I'm on it." she said. After a minute with tinkering with it the laser activated and shot through the ground and into the prothean structure. Tali turned it off shortly after and found a newly made entrance.

"Nice one Tali!" Shepard praised.

"Thank you." Tali said blushing. Luckily Shepard was looking at the new passage and not her specifically.

"Let's go." Shepard said walking in with the rest following. They came up to a platform with a console. Shepard felt a wave of nostalgia hit him instantly as soon as he saw and started typing on it in a trance-like state. The platform moved showing it was an elevator as it carried them to where Liara was. Shepard then moved next to her and started messing with the computer.

"How... how did you get in here? I didn't think there was anyway past the barrier!" Liara asked happy.

"Blasted through with the mining laser." Shepard said as he continued typing. Realization donned on Liara.

"Of course, yes. That makes sense." Liara said. Then she continued, "Please..get me out of here before more geth arrive."

"Done and done." Shepard said as he pressed the final button. The barrier curtain deactivated letting Liara go.

"Any idea how we get out of this place?" Garrus asked.

"The elevator back that way should take us out of here, come on!" Liara said as she started to move towards it with everyone walking with her. As they walked over Liara began talking.

"I-I still cannot believe all this. Why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?" She asked Shepard.

"Saren's looking for the Conduit. Your a prothean expert. He obviously wants you to help him find it." Kaidan answered for Shepard.

"The Conduit? But I don't know-" Liara began to say until she was cutoff by a tremor. They all looked around to see the place shaking.

"What the hell was that?" Ash said.

"These ruins are not stable. That mining laser must've triggered a seismic event." Liara answered.

"You mean like an earthquake?" Tali asked. Before Liara could answer Wrex did it for her.

"No, its more like a volcanic eruption." he said.

"Great." Shepard sarcastically said.

"We have to hurry. The whole place is caving in!" Liara said as she started the elevator up. Shepard decided to have an escape plan just in case.

"Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on our position! On the double mister!" Shepard ordered scaring the hell out of Joker who was reading comics in his pilot seat.

"Aye, aye, Shepard. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes." Joker said as he moved the Normandy. Shepard and co. then rode the elevator up to the top floor when Shepard felt a biotic signature and multiple electric signatures.

"Guys weapons out!" Shepard ordered. Everyone took out there weapons except Liara who looked confused. Her confusion disappeared when she saw why they did it as soon as they got to the top. In front of them was a krogan and few geth standing between them and the exit. The krogan stepped forward.

"Surrender, or don't. That would be more fun." the krogan said.

"In case you haven't noticed this place is falling apart!" Shepard growled out.

"Exhilarating isn't it?" the krogan said smirking. That was when Shepard started charging up a Quick Power Strike in his left hand with adrenaline flowing in his veins.

"I don't have time for this shit!" Shepard roared as he darted toward the krogan before anyone could move. He quickly got in front of the krogan before he slammed his attack in the krogan's face, instantly killing him. Shepard then used the residual energy from the power strike to create a fast but powerful biotic repulse, killing the geth near him. He then turned to his stunned squad.

"This is no time to stare! We need to leave now!" Shepard yelled making them dash for the exit. Shepard was in the back going slower than rest since he used so much of his biotics today. The Power Strike takes a lot of energy to charge and control and the biotic repulse he did a few seconds ago didn't help either.

'If I somehow live through this, I'm going to have Raviolis and a nap. So come on John. Raviolis and a nap! Raviolis and a nap!' He thought to himself. He could see they were close to the exit when Liara stumbled and fell. He quickly picked her up bridal style and ran as fast as he could. Liara on the other hand was blushing a dark shade of purple with how Shepard was carrying her. The both of them made it out as the last ones. Shepard set her down gently on her feet. Everyone noticed he was panting very hard.

"Hey Shepard are you alright?" Wrex asked.

"Yea." Shepard said breathlessly. Then he passed out.

"Shepard!" Tali said as Garrus caught him. Kaidan took a look over to see what was wrong. He then smiled.

"He's fine. Just exhausted." he surmised.

"Maybe we should get Dr. Chakwas to see him just in case." Ashley offered worried about Shepard.

"It would be best to let a medical officer look him over just to be safe." Liara said adding her two cents.

"Yea okay we'll send him to Chakwas." Kaidan said just knowing Shepard was going to wake up with a heart-attack when he saw he was in Chakwas med-bay. He silently apologized to Shepard as he watched the Normandy pass by over them.

(Whew! Tell me what you think! Good? Bad? In the middle? C'mon I need to hear from you to know what your thinking!)


	10. Mission Report 1

Recap: "Yea okay we'll send him to Chakwas." Kaidan said just knowing Shepard was going to wake up with a heart-attack when he saw he was in Chakwas med-bay. He silently apologized to Shepard as he watched the Normandy pass by over them.

Now

Shepard was having a pretty good dream, or more like reliving a good memory. He was back on Mindoir with his mom who was reading to him while they were both laying in a hammock, with the sun setting which illuminated the sky with red, orange, blue and yellow when he was 8 years old. Shepard was at peace. A peace he had not truly appreciated until... he lost his mom. He then remembered everything that happened: his home in flames, his mother dying, the training with Zaeed, creating Isaac, fighting the slavers, saving Elysium, meeting Liselle and training with Aria, surviving Akuze, finding the slavers' main base, the Battle of Torfan, Eden Prime, the Citadel, becoming the first human spectre, meeting the crew of the Normandy, and his modifications. As Shepard continued to remember, the silhouette of childhood peace changed. It morphed from its beautiful sunset covering a tranquil forest near a field to something else. Shepard was now back to his current age, clad in his Colossus X armor with his Master HMW weapons and he was now in a forest with incredibly tall trees reaching up to a now clear night sky with the stars shining brightly.

"What is this? Where am I?" Shepard said out loud looking around. He froze when he heard a very familiar voice behind him.

"You don't know? This is your inner world, Johnny." the voice said. A voice he had not heard for 18 years. He slowly turned around and saw her.

"M-M-Mom?!" Shepard choked out seeing her, tears forming in his eyes. There she was, Hannah Shepard. Long red hair, blue eyes, slightly tanned skin in civilian clothing. (Think of a slightly older fem shep with long hair.)

"Hey John-" was as far as she got before she was engulfed in hug. She hugged him back immediately.

"I missed you, so very much." John said tearfully.

"So did I son." Hannah said with equal emotion. They stayed like that for a few minutes until they broke apart.

"Mom, you said we were in where?" John asked calming down and drying his eyes. Hannah looked at him for minute before she answered him.

"This is your inner world." She said as she gestured to everything around them.

"My inner world?" John asked confused.

"Yes, very few can go into their inner world. I doubt even an asari matriarch could without centuries of mental training." Hannah explained.

"Then how am I in here then?" Shepard asked trying to figure it out. Hannah just smiled at him.

"You always were a strange child. Perhaps this was one of your many oddities." She replied still smiling.

"Does any of it have meaning, you know the trees, the sky, the ground?" John asked.

"Well, the night sky represents the heights you have yet to achieve. The trees represent hopes you have lifted, the heights you have achieved. As for the entire place. What do you think it is?" Hannah told him. John looked around for moment then realized where he was.

"This is the forest I trained in." John said quietly.

"Yes. Do you realize it now? Your inner world reflects who you are and what you feel is safe. This place is the reflection of home." Hannah said. John chuckled while rubbing the back of his head, but then he turned serious.

"Mom, I found out something about myself and I need to know if you-" John started saying before she finished for him.

"If I knew about your genetic tailoring?" She said to which he nodded.

"Yes, I was the one who did it." She said shocking John.

"So those extra genomes and that structure surrounding my DNA? You put them there?" John asked gritting his teeth.

"The genomes, yes. That structure was not my doing though. I honestly don't know what it was or its purpose. It seems to be dormant though. It was unlike anything I had ever seen." Hannah said.

"Why, why did you do it?" John asked her his hands curling into fists.

"You have to understand that you were not a normal birth. You were created in a lab with my DNA mixed with someone else's, the man who told me to create you." Hannah explained shocking him.

"Why did he need me to be created?" John asked.

"Because you were suppose to be the first of a new breed of humans. A super race that could outwit a salarian, overpower an asari matriarch in biotics, heal faster and outfight any krogan, and to adapt to any situation." Hannah explained with a sad face. John stood there for a moment.

"Then why haven't I seen anymore like me?" He asked calming down.

"Because I defected, for you. To save you, my son." Hannah said making John look at her again. John then sighed and looked down at his feet.

"I have created several great things in my life as a scientist, some good, some horrible, but you are the best one I ever made. Both as a scientist and as a mother. Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your journey, who you choose to be." Hannah said seeing his expression. That was when John saw all the choices he made, not because of his genetic tailoring, but because of who he was as a person. He then smiled knowing things will be fine

"Don't worry, I'll come to terms with it. I'm your son after all." John said with a small smile. Hannah had tears of joy in her eyes now. She quickly wiped them away. She then turned serious.

"Son, you have to listen to me. This mission of yours is pushing you towards something big. I don't know what it is, but I know it is something that could affect the galaxy as we know it. Please be safe and happy." Hannah said as she walked up and hugged him.

"You got it mom, don't worry." John said as he hugged back. The world then started to fade away, to which John noticed.

"Mom, what's going on?" he asked.

"It would appear that your time is up here for now." Hannah said as she let go and stepped back.

"Was all of this real?" John asked thinking it was a dream. Hannah didn't say anything, instead she smiled and gave him a wink.

"Tell me who are you now?" she said to him. He thought before answering.

"I am John Shepard, I am the Juggernaut, I AM the Ghost of the Terminus." He spoke reaffirming who he was. Then John's vision fade to black.

During that Time

The whole squad and an asari had brought in Shepard who had passed out from exhaustion with Wrex carrying him over his shoulder. They had made their way over to the med-bay where Chakwas was. Chakwas had been having a restful day when the ground team had come in carrying an unconscious Shepard.

"Whoa! What happened?" she asked to no one in particular.

"He just passed out from exhaustion." Kaidan answered. Wrex then put him on the nearest bed easily for a krogan. Chakwas immediately started scanning Shepard for any internal injuries with everyone watching. After a minute she stopped scanning.

"Your right Kaidan, he's exhausted from overusing his biotics." Chakwas told them. Everyone let out an audible sigh except Kaidan. Chakwas then asked, "What was he doing that could've caused his biotics to get like this?" Everyone thought about what could have done such a thing until Garrus thought of something.

"What about that move of his? What did he call it? Power Strike?" Garrus said. Chakwas rose an eyebrow at that.

"Power Strike?" she asked.

"Yes it's a biotic move he used several times during the mission." Tali spoke up thinking Garrus had the right idea. Wrex then joined in.

"Yea, it was a pretty destructive move too. Never seen anything like it." He spoke.

"I'd like to know how someone who doesn't have a lot of things such as experimental tech, be able to use much less create an attack like that." Ashley said a little suspicious of how Shepard could make such a destructive attack before any of the other races could even think of one.

"As would I." Liara said agreeing with Ashley. Liara was curious about the human who was lying unconscious in front of everyone. She also noticed that he seemed to be smiling out of genuine happiness like he was having a good dream. She then thought of his arms felt when he had picked her up and carried her out when she had stumbled in the mine. They were firm, but were also gentle. She couldn't help but blush when she realized where her thoughts started going after that. That was when Shepard started to wake up.

"*YAWN* What a nice nap." Shepard said with is eyes closed as he stretched. He then opened his eyes and started to look around. Then he got a panicked look and started looking around until Chakwas entered his vision. He then did something that freaked out all the non-humans in the room.

"AAAAHHH! I DIED AND WENT TO HELL!" Shepard exclaimed. Wrex couldn't believe how Shepard was acting. Tali was startled by how Shepard reacted to where he was. Garrus thought that maybe Shepard was hallucinating. Liara was wondering why he thought the med-bay was Hell. Kaidan and Ashley were smiling at Shepard's childish reaction. Chakwas then pulled out a needle and injected its contents into Shepard.

"Ouch!" Shepard said until he realized something. Chakwas saw the look on his face.

"Yes, if you feel pain, you know that you are alive. Also, don't you compare my med-bay to hell ever again." Chakwas stated.

"Well, it's still my personal hell. I never liked medical places ever since I was a kid." Shepard said as he got up. He then looked at his squad and gave them a hard stare.

"Which one of you said it would be a good idea to put me in here?" Shepard said in an even tone making his team nervous. Kaidan squealed, knowing if he got blamed, Shepard would work him to death.

"It was the girls." He said pointing at Tali, Ashley and Liara. Garrus and Wrex quickly nodded their heads in agreement knowing what Shepard could do. The girls then did their best to glare at the men who ratted them out. Shepard then looked at the girls. His stare then let up and softened.

"Okay, I'll let this slide just this once since it was the first time. However, don't send me here unless I am bleeding profusely. Okay?" Shepard said in a warmer tone than earlier looking at everyone. They all nodded to him.

"Alright then, everyone get into more comfortable clothing and we'll meet up in the comm room in... 2 hours." Shepard said thinking over how long it might take him to make a report. He then started to leave until Chakwas called his name.

"Shepard, I would like to know what exactly caused you to pass out." she said getting everyone to look at her, then to Shepard.

"I overused my biotics during the mission." Shepard said.

"From what everyone said, it sounded like you only used them a few times." Chakwas said.

"OH! You mean my Power Strike?" Shepard asked realizing what she was talking about. Chakwas nodded before she sat down in her chair.

"Yes, I want you to explain it to me. Especially its drawbacks." she said trying to see if it could harm Shepard in anyway.

"I don't know.." Shepard said sounding as if he really shouldn't. Then his squad spoke up.

"C'mon Shepard I haven't seen a technique like before, and I've lived for hundreds of years." Wrex said.

"Yes and my race is natural biotic race, and I never heard of a technique like that before." Liara added.

"The Alliance had made no word of that too." Ashley said with Kaidan nodding.

"Nor the Turian Hierarchy." Garrus added. Tali just stood there looking at Shepard curiously. Seeing all of their expecting faces he sighed as he decided to explain it.

"Okay I'll tell you about it. The concept for the Power Strike came to me after Akuze. I had used a Singularity mixed with a Warp to create a biotic explosion inside a Thresher Maw's mouth. The explosion had wrecked the armor inside its mouth pretty badly and scared it off. Afterwards, I had thought of using a technique that could deal as much damage, but at a faster pace." Shepard explained stating the beginning of the Power Strike's creation.

"But wait, you didn't show any sort of ability like it during the battle of Torfan." Kaidan said having been there and seeing earlier footage.

"Yes and the Justicar you saved made no mention of it either." Liara adding into the conversation. Yes, when Samara gave her report, the matriarchs decided to let the asari people know who had caused such a ruckus in the galaxy as well as saved their loved ones. Liara had heard about Ghost and on the way into the Normandy she found out Shepard was Ghost. She was shocked when she saw that the man before her was someone who did such things.

"Yes well, I didn't start on it until after Torfan. You see I was to preoccupied with the slavers and having to be in the employ of Aria T'Loak." Shepard explained getting nods from the 2. He then continued on.

"After that nasty business on Torfan, I decided that I needed something to preoccupy my new free time. So I started researching biotics to see if the technique exists. Obviously it didn't. So I dove into research of recorded biotic abilities, theories and notes. I looked into the Asari, Asari Justicars, Valkyries, Human Adepts, Human Sentinels, Human Vanguards, Volus Adepts, Mercenary Sentinel, and Protectors, Drell Adepts and Vanguards, Batarian Slashers, Enforcers and Brawlers, Turian Cabals and Sentinels, hell even Krogan Shamans, Warlords and Battlemasters. Each and every one of their abilities, I studied. Well except for a few. The asari keep a few of the strong ones closely guarded." Shepard explained.

"Wait a minute, how did you find that stuff anyway? No one could find all of that on the extranet." Tali said noticing that most of the stuff he had described would've been classified. Shepard looked thoughtful at that.

"Well the human's was on the extranet, at least the abilities were. The Drell were also, as well as the Volus since there aren't too many of them. The krogan abilities, I had to collect information from various sources. The batarians were from captured pirates and slavers. For the Asari and Turians, well I had to do a combination of outside sources as well as hacking to get the info." Shepard admitted. Liara and Garrus were looking right at him with shocked stares. Someone had hacked into secure military secrets of their governments. Shepard saw their looks and decided to ease their fears.

"Don't worry, I was just after the information on biotics, the moves and the way they are applied, okay. Anything else, I ignored." Shepard said with his hands up in a placating gesture. That seemed to calm them down a little. Then Ashley spoke up.

"So what, do you have the whole galaxy's biotic arsenal at your fingertips now?" she said looking a little suspicious of Shepard.

"I have the knowledge, but not the ability." Shepard answered.

"What do you mean?" Wrex asked wondering why Shepard couldn't do it.

"Well even though my biotics are above normal, my L3 implants have limits. Besides, biotics seem to have different effects when it comes to species. So even though I can use a wider range of abilities there are some things I just can't do, at least not with my current implants." Shepard explained. Everyone nodded in understanding.

"So how did it all culminate into the Power Strike?" Garrus asked.

"The idea came to me after seeing the biotic orbs of the volus. So I thought, Why not make a hand held version? Unfortunately, when I accomplished this it didn't have the amount of damage I was going for. So I decided to look back at my research of all the powers and see if I could combine them with it. I tried to see what Flare and Reave would be able to do, but sadly I never was able to find out what they were." Shepard said.

"Even if you found out, you wouldn't be able to do it, Asari Matriarchs, Justicars and high-ranking commandos are ever taught them. Even then it takes decades to master." Liara explained. Shepard looked at her.

"I'm guessing your mother told you that huh?" he stated. She nodded her head. Shepard then said, "Well I won't ask you to explain them to me, I'm just not ready for it." Shepard said. He had feeling that was all Benezia told her about when she said it was for high-ranking asari.

"Shepard go on." Chakwas said in a stern motherly tone. Shepard sighed.

"What I did come across was an asari technique called Biotic Sphere. I couldn't manage to fully replicate it, but I could make one the size of a soccer ball." Shepard said as he demonstrated it. In his hand was a sphere of biotic energy. He then continued on.

"I would then place the biotic orb inside the sphere," Shepard said as a biotic orb manifested inside the sphere. Everyone was now staring at intently, analyzing it.

"And then I would place a continuous Warp in between the sphere and the orb." Shepard said as biotic energy began to manifest and circulate in the sphere making it glow white.

"In doing so it creates a continuous biotic explosion inside the sphere." Shepard said as the energy began to pulsate. Everyone was stepping back thinking it was going to explode until Shepard smirked.

"Now the biotic explosion acts as a Warp, while maintain focus on the orb and sphere." Shepard explained as the sphere started radiate blue energy.

"Then all I need to do is direct the attack at a target." Shepard said as the light began to dissipate until the Power Strike faded out of existence. Everyone was staring at him dumbfounded as he had explained his move. Ashley and Garrus only understood the power it had which put them in awe of it. Tali and Kaidan knew the mechanics behind biotics and knew to do all of that took a lot of concentration. Liara and Wrex were in awe at the simplicity of it. Here was a human who was only 2 decades, going on 3, who created such a powerful technique, when none of the other races who had biotics for centuries and they didn't think of it. Wrex had a new respect for Shepard who showed his cunning in new ways of fighting. Tali and Kaidan had more admiration for his ability to keep finding new ways to surprise people. Ashley had a new respect for Shepard for the same reasons as Wrex. Liara and Garrus were now more at ease that Shepard had created a technique like this, and didn't flaunt it over others.

"And the drawbacks, Shepard?" Chakwas asked with a raised eyebrow. Shepard turned to her and spoke.

"The drawbacks are if I overuse it, I pass out from exhaustion. It puts a real strain on my implants making it 4 times a day. That's the limit, after that its lights out." Shepard said until Tali spoke up.

"Wait, but you used it only 3 times on the mission. Why did you pass out?" she asked. Shepard looked at her.

"Like I said, using each one puts a strain on it. When I used that Biotic Repulse immediately after the third one, it took more energy out of me than expected. Couple that with the sprint out of those ruins and having to carry someone while sprinting, it might as well have been for times." Shepard explained, making the squad look at Liara who blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Shepard." she said quietly.

"Huh? Oh I'm not blaming you Liara, I was just in to much of a hurry to set you down until we were safe." Shepard said not really blaming her. Liara gave him a grateful smile in return.

"Shepard, I don't want you using that move more than twice understand?" Chakwas said sternly. Shepard scoffed.

"Chakwas, your such a mother hen." Shepard said in response.

"Only because you and Joker act like children." She defended herself. Shepard blew a raspberry at her for that comment.

"My point exactly." Chakwas said pointing at him. Shepard then put his hands up placating her.

"Okay, okay. Joker's the sickly kid who makes jokes and I'm the reckless kid who finds trouble." Shepard admitted. Chakwas nodded at that. Shepard then looked at everyone else's amused faces.

"Meeting in the Comm Room in 2 hours. I need to eat and make a report." Shepard said as he walked out of the med-bay towards his room with everyone going back toward their stations. As Shepard got into his room, he got out of his armor and into his more comfortable fatigues.

"Hey Isaac you awake?" Shepard asked.

"I never sleep, also I would prefer that you follow Chakwas' advice." Isaac said having worried about Shepard when he passed out. Shepard nodded.

"I'll try to, besides something tells me with my genetic modifications, I wouldn't be able to do the Power Strike. If I were able to, I wouldn't be able to use it as many times or survive the strain for that matter." Shepard thought aloud.

"I have to admit using the power strike on that barrier was unnecessary." Isaac said his tone showing some annoyance at Shepard's carelessness. Shepard couldn't help but rub the back of his head and chuckle nervously.

"Fair enough." Shepard conceded. Then his amused expression turned serious.

"Hey, Isaac?"

"Yea Shepard?" Isaac said noticing that Shepard's expression.

"Do you believe in the afterlife?" Shepard asked.

"Why do you ask?" Isaac asked back.

"Its nothing, never mind." Shepard said looking towards the computer in the room. Isaac was silent for a few moments before he spoke up.

"I believe that there are things happen that simply don't make sense logically." Isaac said. Shepard was silent for awhile.

"Do you think Lis might be pregnant?" Isaac asked thinking Shepard could use a change of topic.

"I'm not sure. Its possible, but I don't know. We'll find out after this mission is done." Shepard said. Then he continued on, "Isaac if it's not too much trouble..."

"Write your report since I was with you through the whole thing? Sure, I could use something to do, besides I'm way faster." Isaac said finishing for him while bragging a little. Shepard smiled at him.

"Thanks." he said.

"No problem, transfer me over to your computer over there and I'll have it all written up in 30 minutes." Isaac said. Shepard walked over to the computer and began transferring Isaac over.

"Be sure it's in first person, and don't mention the power strike." Shepard said.

"The less they know about you, the better huh? Okay, gotcha." Isaac said as he was transferred over. After that Shepard walked out of his room and toward the mess to find something to eat.

2 Hours Later

After gorging on whatever food he could find he then made is way up to the Comm Room. He waited for everyone to file in. Liara came in first.

"Hello, Shepard." Liara said in greeting. Then Tali came in.

"Hey Shepard." Tali said hoping Shepard was better. Then Garrus walked in followed by Kaidan.

"Shepard." They greeted at the same time. Then came Ashley and Wrex who simply sat down. That was when Joker spoke over the intercom.

"Too close, Shepard! Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference." Joker said. Shepard rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Okay Joker, I'll try to find a better extraction zone next time we need to get out of a volcano." Shepard said smirking.

"Please do." Joker retorted. Everyone couldn't believe how the 2 acted with each other.

"We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?" Liara said surprised.

"Joker pulled our asses out of that. I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes." Shepard said knowing Joker was listening in.

"Hey, I heard that." Joker replied. Shepard just laughed softly.

"I see. It must be a human thing. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species, Shepard." Liara said.

"Just so you know, every human is different. There are few humans who are exactly alike, and fewer that are in the same place." Shepard told her thinking it might be best she'd know. Liara nodded in understanding.

"But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there, and not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me, or dragged me off to Saren." Liara continued on.

"What did Saren want with you? Do you know something about the Conduit?" Kaidan asked.

"Only that it was somehow connected to the prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the last fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them." Liara replied.

"How old are you exactly?" Shepard said curious about her age. He knew she was in her early maiden years but that was it. He than noticed Liara blushed, embarrassed.

"I hate to say this but I'm only a hundred and six." she said. Ah that is young for an asari.

"Damn, I hope I look that good when I'm your age." Ashley stated. Liara then looked at her.

"A century may seem like a long time to a short-lived species like yours, but among the asari I'm barely considered more than a child." Liara explained.

"Basically it's like 16-year old is to humans, Ashley." Shepard continued for Liara, dumbing it down. Liara nodded in agreement.

"That's why my research hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. Because of my youth, other asari scholars tend to... dismiss my theories on what happened to the protheans." Liara said looking down.

"Shows what they know." Shepard said getting up. He then continued on, "I've got my own theory about why the protheans vanished." Liara looked at him a little disbelieving.

"With all due respect, Shepard, I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them. The protheans left remarkably little behind." Liara said.

"Almost too little." Shepard rebuffed.

"Yes, it is almost as if someone did not want the mystery solved. It's like someone came along after the protheans were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clues." Liara continued nodding. She then added, "But here is the incredible part. According to my findings, the protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish. This cycle began long before them." she finished.

"What cycle? What are you talking about?" Shepard asked curious.

"The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction. Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive." Liara explained. Shepard was getting a bad feeling from this.

"The protheans rose up from a single world until their empire had spanned the entire galaxy. Yet even they climbed to the top on the remains of those who came before. Their greatest achievements- the mass relays and the citadel- are based on the technology of those who came before them. Then like all the other forgotten civilizations throughout galactic history, the protheans disappeared." Liara said. Shepard now knew who wiped the protheans out.

"I have dedicated my life to figuring out why." Liara said.

"They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines. The Reapers." Shepard said causing Liara to look bewildered.

"The-the reapers? But I have never heard of- How do you know this? What evidence do you have?" Liara fired off her questions.

"There was a damaged prothean beacon on Eden Prime. It burned a vision into my brain. Still trying to sort out what it means." Shepard explained watching her reaction.

"Visions? Yes, that makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one is extremely rare." Liara said understanding now.

"No wonder the geth attacked Eden Prime. The chance to acquire a beacon, even a badly damaged one, is worth almost any the risk." Liara said trying to figure things out before she continued, "But the beacons were programmed to interact with prothean physiology. Whatever information you received would have been confused, unclear." She then looked at Shepard in a new light.

"I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong-willed, Shepard." Liara said.

"Okay, this isn't helping us find Saren or the Conduit." Ashley interrupted. If Shepard was facing her, he would've seen her jealousy.

"Ashley, be patient." Shepard said in firm tone. Ash quieted down fast.

"Of course you are right. I'm sorry. My scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find the conduit, or Saren." Liara said a little saddened.

"Hmm. I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture, but I think it would be best if we bring you along." Shepard said thinking she could help.

"Thank you, Shepard. Saren might come after me again. I cannot think of anywhere safer than here on your ship, and my knowledge of the protheans might be useful later." Liara said as she got up.

"And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts." Wrex said adding his two cents in.

"Good to have you on the team Liara." Shepard said.

"Thank you, Shepard. I'm very gratef- whoa. I am afraid I am feeling a bit light-headed." Liara said putting her hand to her head.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept? Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you." Kaidan noticing her fatigued state.

"It is probably just mental exhaustion, coupled with the shock of discovering the protheans' true fate. I need some time to process all this." Liara said trying to keep her impressions up. She then thought of it, "Still it could not hurt to be examined by a medical professional. It will give me a chance to think things over. Are we finished here, Shepard?" Liara asked.

"Yea, go see the doctor. We'll talk later. Everyone else, dismissed." Shepard said. Everyone filed out as Joker talked over the intercom.

"Mission reports are filed, Shepard. You want me to patch you through to the Council?" Joker asked. Shepard sighed mentally preparing himself for the irritation he was about to receive.

"Yeah, patch them through Joker." Shepard said after a few seconds.

"Setting up the link now, Shepard. Good luck." Joker said.

"I might need it." Shepard muttered. He then turned around to see the holograms of the Council.

"We've received your report, Ghost. I understand Dr. T'soni is on the Normandy." Tevos began.

"I assume you're taking the necessary security precautions?" Sparatus said, with some light hostility.

"As much as I feel is needed. She wants to help us. I'll let her do that as long as she doesn't become detrimental." Shepard said thinking this might keep them of his back. He quietly watched their reactions. Tevos held a small, almost unnoticeable smile. Valern looked as if he was studying Shepard's every move. Sparatus' irritated look relaxed slightly at his answer.

"Besides, I don't think she has any reason to fight against us since the geth were trying to kill her." Shepard added to cement his argument. Tevos looked a little shocked at that.

"Benezia would never allow Saren to kill her daughter." Tevos said.

"Maybe, she doesn't know." Valern stated.

"Or maybe we don't know her. We never expected she could become a traitor." Sparatus stated his outlook.

"At least the mission was a success." Valern stated.

"Apart from the destruction of a major prothean ruin. Was that necessary Shepard?" Sparatus asked trying to grill him.

Shepard didn't answer as he looked deep in thought with arms crossed, with his thumbnail in his mouth. The Councilors noticed this.

"Is there something on your mind, Ghost?" Valern asked wondering what was on his mind.

"Maybe, it's something else." Shepard finally said. The Councilors looked confused at him.

"What do you mean?" Sparatus asked.

"Look, you yourself said you knew Saren for many years correct?" Shepard asked Sparatus who nodded. Shepard then turned to Tevos.

"And the way you talk about Benezia means you've known her for some time, yes?" Shepard asked Tevos.

"Yes, for decades, almost a century now." She said.

"What are you getting at Ghost?" Valern asked now curious.

"What did Benezia specialize in? What did she talk about when it came to politics?" Shepard asked Tevos again, ignoring Valern.

"She mostly talked about working with the other races." Tevos said. "What are you looking for Shepard?" she asked.

"Doesn't it seem strange?" Shepard asked all of them now.

"What?" Sparatus asked annoyed.

"I can understand why Saren would attack a human colony. But if Benezia was always talking about cooperation for the last few decades, why join with Saren. And speaking of Saren, why would he suddenly turn against all the other races. Humanity is a given, but his own people?" Shepard said.

"What do you think is going on Ghost?" Valern asked now noticing what was Ghost might be thinking.

"I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, Saren and Benezia aren't the true enemy. Maybe there is someone, or something controlling them." Shepard said. The Council looked at him silently until Tevos spoke.

"What makes you think that?" she asked.

"You both were shocked about their recent activities because it was so out of character for them, especially with Benezia. No one makes a sudden change without some kind of interference." Shepard explained.

"How do you think that they could be under 'mind-control'?" Sparatus asked with his talons doing quotes.

"Because when I was hunting down the slavers back in the late 70's I noticed a pattern that the Batarian Hegemony was truly behind the attack on Elysium. It involved messages, recordings and records of large stockpiles of resources being moved around. The Hegemony had subtly nudged several merc and pirate bands, until they directly let the slaver bands in on it to. As for the mind control, the slavers used mind-control chip implants on slaves. I'm thinking it might be something similar with Saren and Benezia." Shepard explained. The Council could understand why Shepard would think this.

"Then if it is true, and that they are under some type of mind-control, then save them if you can and find out who did this. If not then you are to proceed with your original mission." Sparatus said. Shepard nodded with a determined look.

"Good luck, Ghost. Remember, We are all counting on you." Tevos said.

"Wait, did you guys get anymore leads while I was on the mission?" Shepard asked thinking he might need more info.

"Unfortunately no new information has come up. When it does, we will personally forward it to you." Valern said as their holograms winked out. Shepard was a little disappointed now. Great, he was going to have to find a way to kill some time before the next Council mission came in.

Whew! Read and Review please! Hope things in this one where okay!

**JUST MODIFICATIONS OKAY! NOTHING NEW, IT'S STILL IN THE WORKS!**


	11. Getting to know your crew

Recap: "Unfortunately no new information has come up. When it does, we will personally forward it to you." Valern said as their holograms winked out. Shepard was a little disappointed now. Great, he was going to have to find a way to kill some time before the next Council mission came in.

Now

Shepard decided to go talk to everyone as he walked out of the Comm Room and toward the cockpit. When he got there, Joker wasn't in his chair.

"Hey Pressly! Where's Joker?" Shepard asked as he looked at Pressly.

"He went downstairs to the mess Shepard." Pressly answered. Shepard began walk when he noticed the expression on Pressly's face.

"Something on your mind?" Shepard asked. Pressly was silent for a moment before he answered.

"Sir, if anyone has to take over for Captain Anderson I'm glad its you, Shepard. I'm just not sure about having non-humans on our ship though." Pressly said.

"Ah, so that's it. Don't worry Pressly, we are all on the same team here." Shepard said hoping to ease the older man's feelings.

"With all due respect, Shepard. That's what they said about Nihlus, and look at how that almost turned out." Pressly retorted. Shepard nodded understanding Pressly's point.

"Okay Pressly, speak your mind. I want to know if you got a problem with non-humans." Shepard said.

"It's not that Shepard. Humanity has always handled its own problems. Saren attacked one of our colonies. We should be the ones to stop him. We don't need their help." Pressly stated.

"I understand that some people think asking for help is a sign of weakness. That's just being stupid and stubborn. No matter how strong you are, allies make you stronger. Take it from me." Shepard said knowing as strong as he was, having his team with him made him much more stronger.

"I guess so. Maybe I'm just stuck in the old ways of thinking. Don't worry Shepard this won't be a problem." Pressly said. Shepard smiled at his attitude.

"You know, if you feel these problems coming back up, talk to them. You might find out we have more in common than you think. And if you don't, come talk to me. I'll listen." Shepard said as he walked off toward the mess downstairs. He walked in and found Joker along with Kaidan, Wrex, Garrus, Tali, Ashley and Liara. Before he could say anything, Joker beat him to it.

"I prefer gold to silver. You know for my medal. I figured you'd recommend me for one since I, uh pulled your asses out of the fire." Joker said. Shepard smirked at him as he sat down with everyone watching the 2 talk.

"Something tells me if you get a medal, you'll have to sit on a stage, listening to politicians make speeches for a few hours. But hey if you want one I'll send a recommendation to Anderson." Shepard said messing with him. He saw Joker's eyes go wide.

"Uh, hang on! On second thought, I don't need a medal. They'd probably make me shave too. I've been working on this baby for the past seven weeks. No medal's worth that." Joker said realizing what could happen. Shepard could only laugh at him.

"So, why did you come up here Shepard?" Joker said wondering why Shepard was up here.

"Well, I thought I'd say thanks for the save. Also how is the Normandy doing? Is she everything they said she'd be?" Shepard asked thinking the Normandy may have taken some damage from picking them up from the volcano.

"Your welcome. She's the best ship in the fleet... if you got a pilot who knows how to handle her." Joker said. Shepard started smirking again.

"The balance isn't what you would expect. Takes awhile to get used to that oversized drive core we got stuffed in the back. Her power can sneak up on you if you're not careful." Joker continued to say. Shepard knew that Joker had the Normandy all figured out.

"The Nomandy's probably too much ship for your average Alliance pilot, Shepard. Luckily for you, I'm anything but average." Joker finished tooting his own horn.

"Hey I'm curious, why does everyone call you Joker?" Shepard asked.

"It's a lot shorter than saying Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Plus I like to make little children laugh." Joker said smiling.

"You know, I was just thinking about how much you remind me of Santa Claus." Shepard said grinning.

"Okay, okay. Look, I didn't pic the name. One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started calling me Joker, and it stuck." Joker explained.

"Why didn't you ever smile?" Shepard asked wondering how this guy in front of him could ever been a downer.

"Hey, I worked my ass off in flight school Shepard! The world's not going to hand you anything if you go around grinning like a idiot." Joker said with an annoyed expression.

"Don't I know it." Shepard agreed. Joker nodded.

"By the end of the year, I was the best pilot in the Academy. Even better than the instructors and everybody knew it." Joker continued getting a little more passionate. Joker then smiled as he continued, "They all got their asses kicked by sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation."**  
**

"So Shepard. What's your story?" Joker asked causing everyone to look at Shepard.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"Come on! We all heard the stories of the Ghost, but no one has heard the truth. Besides, a guy like you doesn't become a galactic batman for nothing." Joker said wanting to know about Shepard. The non-humans in the room were wondering what a batman was while they and the other humans waited for Shepard to speak.

"Well, what have you heard about me?" Shepard asked with his arms behind his head.

"I heard that some people say your not human." Joker said.

"Some said you were a myth." Wrex said joining in.

"The governments said you were a rouge mercenary." Garrus added.

"The Alliance said you were just some reckless vigilante." Ashley said with Kaidan nodding.

"The quarian people thought you were some kind of assassin." Tali added.

"The asari thought you were a rouge experiment." Liara said.

"So why did you become the Ghost?" Joker asked. Shepard chuckled at their responses, in a way they were all right.

"Why I became the Ghost? Well, it was for vengeance and justice I guess." Shepard said causing all of them to lean in.

"Against who?" Garrus asked.

"The slavers." Shepard said with an even tone.

"What did they do to you?" Liara asked. Shepard was quiet for a few seconds before he responded.

"They burned down my home and killed my family." Shepard said having adverse reactions from everyone. Wrex had already guessed that was the case. Kaidan already knew it. Liara was shocked at him as was Tali. Garrus and Ashley could understand it. Joker felt a little bad for asking it.

"So, were you gunning for batarians afterwards?" Ashley asked, her ignorance showing. Shepard looked at her with indifference which kind of startled her for a second.

"I was gunning for slavers and the like. That included batarians, asari, salarians, turians, krogan and even humans." Shepard said in an even voice which scared Ashley. He then continued to say, "I told you before on the Citadel that I didn't feel that much of connection with humanity, because I lived on Omega. That was only a mere part of it. When I saw humans as slavers, when I saw them traffic other humans, I decided to stop seeing which race was more superior and to simply look at them all as people and monsters." Shepard said stating his views on the people in the galaxy. Kaidan and Ashley could accept it even though they were a little shaken by it. Wrex completely understood why Shepard was like this because of his history with his people. Garrus, Tali and Liara had a hard time fathoming how one member of a species couldn't feel a connection to their species.

"You asked me why I became the Ghost? It was to become a symbol to everyone. A symbol of hope, fear, power. A symbol to show the slavers who thought themselves invincible, that there was someone who could and would tear them down. They were monsters who destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands and in the end created their destroyer. They made a colony kid into an orphan hell bent on destroying them. That is my story Joker. Some people call me a hero, others call me a demon. I just see myself as another person trying do something he thinks is right." Shepard said leaving his audience stunned.

"H-How old were you?" Joker asked dreading the answer. Shepard looked at him with dead eyes.

"Eleven years old." Was all he said as he looked around to see his squad's reactions.

Tali was sad for him. She couldn't think of losing everything like he did. The quarian people were a tight community since their exodus from Rannoch. She just wanted to walk up and hug him after hearing his story.

Liara was greatly saddened by how the Ghost of the Terminus came to be. To go through such hardship at the hands of others. It just wasn't right.

Garrus didn't like how things had ended up for Shepard thinking that something like that shouldn't have happened.

Wrex had far more respect for Shepard now seeing as he got stronger because of it.

"That's why I don't put that much faith in the Alliance." Shepard said making Ashley and Kaidan stiffen.

"W-What, why?" Ashley said a little shaken at how Shepard's views were.

"Because I see the Alliance as inept in it's duty. My home, Mindoir, was in the boundaries and yet when we came under attack, no help arrived." Shepard said coldly making Kaidan speak up.

"Shepard the Alliance did come, they were just too late." Kaidan tried to reason.

"Okay, fine. I'll take that. Let's get toward something more recent, Elysium." Shepard said staring at Kaidan before he continued, "What did the Alliance officials do when they did get warning from both of us?" Shepard asked rhetorically. Kaidan became silent as he looked at the ground.

"Come on Kaidan, we were both there." Shepard said wanting him to answer. Everyone was now looking at Kaidan wondering what happened, none more so than Ashley. Kaidan sighed before he spoke up.

"They laughed it off saying that it was nothing more than a prank." Kaidan said sadly. Everyone was in shock at that.

"And lets not forget who let the Alliance know about Torfan. They probably had people working on it, but obviously not enough when one man found it before them." Shepard said putting the evidence out there for everyone. He then said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the Alliance did it just so they could get some good publicity." Shepard said snorting at the thought.

"You can guys can still view the Alliance as this awesome thing for humanity, but me? No." Shepard said. Everyone was quiet before they walked back to their stations.

"Joker, take us back to the Citadel, when you get back to the cockpit. I need to pick up some more things. See ya around." Shepard said as he walked away planning on talking to everyone on his squad.

"You betcha, Shepard. Sorry about... you know." Joker said as he hobbled away.

"Don't worry about it. You were just curious." Shepard said as he walked towards Kaidan. Kaidan looked at him as he approached and spoke up first.

"That was some serious stuff you said Shepard." Kaidan said.

"Yeah well, the Alliance trying to recruit me, asking or forcing, is a little serious too." Shepard said making Kaidan wince.

"Okay fair enough. Did you want to talk about something?" Kaidan asked

"What's your opinion on Therum?" Shepard asked.

"Dr. T'soni? seems like a sweet girl, easy on the eyes." Shepard smirked at him. Kaidan noticed and quickly added, "I mean, if you like the bookish sort."

"Any intentions there, Kaidan?" Shepard asked grinning now.

"No, Shepard just art appreciation." Kaidan said smirking back.

"Uh huh. Look, we've met over the years, and are now working together. I've talked about myself a lot, now I'd like to know more about my crew. Only ones who haven't really talked that much are you and Ashley. So talk, off the record." Shepard said.

"Generous attitude. Okay, so Saren is looking for records on the protheans' mass extinction and no one is looking in on it now? Sorry, Shepard. There's writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it." Kaidan said. Shepard nodded knowing he was right.

"The Council doesn't want to believe anything is wrong, dumbasses." Shepard said shaking his head.

"I know, it's just you'd think that with a group that has been around as long as the Council, they'd be more prepared. Sorry if it's too informal." Kaidan said not really being sorry.

"Hey, I'm the one who called them dumbasses, and I'm not apologizing for it either." Shepard said. Kaidan chuckled at that.

"You would've fit right in BAaT. Protocol wasn't that big there either." Kaidan said.

"What was BAat?" Shepard asked having heard of it, but not much.

"Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training. It didn't last past the airlock. To the kids they hauled in it was just called Brain Camp." Kaidan said as he began to explain it.

"Sorry, 'hauled in' is a unkind. We were 'encouraged to commit to an evaluation of our abilities so an understanding of biotics could be compiled.'" Kaidan said quoting the garbage that was fed to them before he continued, "There were worse results of 'accidental' exposure to element zero in the womb. Beats the brain tumors some kids had to grow up with."

"I'm getting the feeling that some of it wasn't accidental." Shepard said hearing Kaidan's tone with accidental.

"Well, some of them might be, but mine wasn't. My mother was downwind of a transport crash, when it was before human biotics. A little after the discovery of the martian ruins. It only got iffy around '63 when Conatix was running out of first gen subjects. Until then they relied on accidentals. Then a bunch of guys in suits show up at your door after school. Next thing you know, you're out on Jump Zero." Kaidan stated.

"You know of any intentional exposures for certain?" Shepard asked.

"No one 'knows.' Doesn't mean they didn't happen. As big as the exposures were, it was hard to track down accidentals. It was different then. No one knew the potential, so there wasn't a lot of regulation then. Anything Conatix did was gold. I'm not saying they intentionally detonated drives over our outposts, but in retrospect, they were damn quick on the scene." Kaidan said showing what he really thought. Shepard nodded his head in agreement. Then Shepard remembered something.

"Jump Zero was Gagarin Station right? What was it like?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, that was the official name. Biggest and farthest facility we had for decades. Right on the termination shock, at the outer edge of the solar system. That was where they did all the 'goose chase' FTL research. Before we caught on to mass effect fields. When I was there, it was a sterile research platform." Kaidan explained.

"There were other kids, so you weren't alone there then at least." Shepard said.

"That's true. We did have a little circle that'd get together every night before lights-out. We didn't have much to though. It was a research platform then, and Conatix kept Jump Zero off the extranet. You know, to prevent leaks." Kaidan replied, then saw Shepard's grin.

"You were all teenagers, you must've found other ways to occupy the time." Shepard said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Kaidan chuckled at Shepard's antics.

"I'm not the sort to do that kind of thing. Not lightly anyway. There was a girl I spent a lot of time with, but we kept our clothes on. Rahna. She was from Turkey. Her family was very rich, but she was smart, charming as hell, and beautiful but not stuck up about it. I think you would've liked her, Shepard." Kaidan said his tone of voice changing. Shepard noticed how Kaidan had talked about her like she was perfect.

"She sounds like one in a million. Was she special to you?" Shepard asked a little more serious now.

"She was. Maybe she felt the same, but things never fell together. Training, you know." Kaidan said dodging the question. Shepard noticed and decided not to push him.

"Jump Zero is a long way from Earth. What's it like?" Shepard asked changing the subject. Kaidan had rueful smile when he asked that.

"The Grand Gateway to Humanity looks a lot better in the vids, but that's my own baggage, Shepard. No bearing on this." Kaidan said

"Kaidan, you can trust me. I won't tell anyone." Shepard said thinking he could use some encouragement.

"I appreciate that Shepard. I've got my past squared away though. Maybe later." Kaidan said finishing the conversation.

"Okay, whenever you want to talk again." Shepard said as he walked away.

"Shepard wait." He heard Kaidan say. He turned back to him.

"Yea?"

"Why do you hide your real attitude?" Kaidan asked.

'So he saw it, huh?' Shepard thought with his calm expression becoming a little cold. He then spoke in an equally cold tone, "Because if you all saw the real me, the Ghost of the Terminus, this team would likely take longer and not work as well. Besides you, Wrex may be the only other one who saw through my facade today. You've seen who we have besides you and him: An ignorant soldier, a turian agent who's gunning for a chance to to do things recklessly, a naive quarian who knows little of the galaxy beyond the Migrant Fleet and an asari who prefers relics over people. Wrex, you and I are the only ones who know how things are done with a mission like this, but them? They might as well be children on this mission." Kaidan couldn't help but wince, knowing Shepard was right. Then Shepard's tone became a little warmer.

"I want them to realize what is going on, and that they need to work together fluidly to win." Shepard said, his face losing its cold look. When he said that, Kaidan looked at him, knowing he was right.

"So what, are you going to be the big brother who teaches them?" Kaidan asked. Shepard smiled.

"No, I'm going to be the guy who makes them realize it." Shepard said as he walked towards the med bay, leaving Kaidan with his thoughts. Shepard walked into the med bay as he saw Chakwas.

"Hey." he said.

"Here to talk with Liara?" Chakwas said, already knowing.

"Might as well welcome her and see how she is doing." Shepard said as he walked toward the back of the med bay. When he got in he saw Liara get up.

"Shepard, are you coming to check up on me?" Liara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, you look much better. How are you feeling?" Shepard asked checking her aura with anything abnormal.

"Doctor Chakwas assures me I am going to be fine. I was impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology." Liara said. Shepard smiled at that.

"Your in good hands. Despite how she and I act, I can assure you she knows what she is doing." Shepard said honestly. He and Chakwas make act strange with each other, but he had nothing but respect for the woman's medical abilities, except maybe a little dread.

"I never properly got to thank you for saving from the geth. If you hadn't showed up..." Liara began to say until trailed off.

"Hey, I'm just glad we got there in the nick of time." Shepard said reassuringly.

"So am I." Liara said. Shepard chuckled thinking it was funny. He stopped when he noticed Liara was looking at him.

"What's on your mind?" Shepard asked.

"I know you took a chance bringing me aboard this ship. I have seen the way your crew looks at me, they don't trust me." Liara said looking down. She then looked back up with determination, "But I am not like Benezia. I will do whatever I can help you stop Saren. I promise." Shepard smiled at her.

"Well, you can prove my crew wrong by helping us against Saren, and don't worry we'll get this mess with your mother straightened out." Shepard said.

"It means a lot to hear you say that, Shepard. Thank you." Liara said with a grateful smile. Now that he had a moment to take a good look, he noticed how beautiful Liara was. He also couldn't help, but notice her... assets as well. He quickly moved his eyes back towards Liara's eyes. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but notice how all the women in his squad were ample in some places: Liara had her chest, Tali was more proportional in the hips, and Ash balanced out in both departments, neither too big or small. He then mental slapped himself. 'No! Bad John! Bad! We need think of Liselle, she might be carrying your unborn child!' Shepard mentally chastised himself. His more primal self was going 'They're hot! Besides Lis broke up with you. You wouldn't be cheating.' Luckily he ignored it.

"Well, I'd like to learn more about you, Liara. You know since we are on the same team now." Shepard asked, hoping to get know her better.

"Me? I'm afraid I am not very interesting, Shepard. I spend most of my time on remote digs, unearthing mundane items buried in long-forgotten prothean ruins." Liara said modestly.

"That sounds dangerous and lonely." Shepard said.

"Sometimes I would run afoul of indigenous life-forms, or stumble across a small band mercenaries or privateers." Shepard had a worried look on his face hoping they hadn't done anything awful, otherwise he was going hunting. Liara must've seen his expression when she added, "But I was always careful." Shepard calmed down a little.

"Until the geth found me in Artemis Tau, I had never found myself in any situation my biotics couldn't handle. As for the solitude, well, that is one aspect that most appealed to me. Sometimes I just need to get away from other people." she continued.

'Damn, just as I thought, a loner.' Shepard thought. He knew he had been right when he talked to Kaidan earlier. When he was on Therum he noticed that there no bodies of any other archaeologists. "What's wrong with people?" He asked hoping to make her more sociable.

"I suppose it comes with being a matriarchs daughter. People expected me to follow in Benezia's footsteps. They wanted me to become a leader of our people." Liara explained.

"No offense Liara, but you don't seem like the leading type." Shepard said stating what he thought.

"None taken. Matriarchs guide their followers into the future; they seek the truth of what is to come. Maybe that's why I became so interested in the secrets of the past." Liara said with the last bit seeming like a reflection on herself. She then chuckled before she continued, "It sounds so foolish when I say it out loud. It sounds like I became an archaeologist simply to spite Benezia."

"All children eventually rebel against their parents. It's part of growing up." Shepard said knowing it was true. Liara laughed a little in response.

"Haha. You share the wisdom of the Matriarch, Shepard. That is what Benezia said when I told her my decision." Liara said smiling. She then looked a little more serious, but her mirth was still present.

"But there was more to it than that. I felt drawn to the past. The protheans were these wondrous, mysterious figures. I wanted to know everything about them." Liara before looked at him again. She continued with, "That is why I find you so fascinating. You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime, you were touched by working prothean technology!" Now Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. He decided to have a little fun with her.

"Doctor T'soni, it sounds like you want to dissect me in a lab somewhere." Shepard said keeping the grin of his face. Liara's went wide at what he said.

"What? No! I didn't mean insinuate- I never meant to offend you Shepard." Liara said her voice raising a little. Shepard stoic facade cracked a little, but she didn't notice. She tried to explain things out with saying, "I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for in-depth study. No-that's even worse!" He couldn't hold it any longer and he started laughing at her. She had a very confused reaction to him laughing.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"Y-Y-You are! I was just messing with you." Shepard said calming himself down, though he still had the occasional snicker. Liara looked like she was mentally berating herself.

"Messing around? You mean joking? Oh, by the goddess! How could I be so dense? You must think I'm a complete and utter fool." Liara said blushing in embarrassment. She continued, "Now you know why I prefer to spend my time in the field with data disks and computers. I always seem to say something embarrassing around other people."

"Or funny." He added.

"Please just pretend this conversation never happened." Liara said almost pleadingly.

"Hmmm, I don't know. I don't think I can trust you now that I now you want to dissect me." Shepard said grinning.

"I don't want to!" Liara denied with more energy this time.

"Hehe, okay Liara I'll quit torturing you and leave you alone see ya." Shepard said as he left. He then walked toward the elevator after getting out of the med bay. After a minute of losing his sanity to how slow the elevator and door were, he made his way to the cargo hold. He then walked over to Wrex.

"So we have Saren on the run." Wrex said as Shepard stepped up.

"It won't be long now. He's good, but I'm better." Shepard said brimming with confidence. Wrex rose an eyebrow at Shepard.

"Good? He's rotten to the core. I could tell as soon as I met him." Wrex said gaining Shepard's attention.

"You met Saren? Why didn't you say so sooner?" Shepard asked looking straight at Wrex with all seriousness.

"I would've if I thought it was important." Wrex admitted.

"True enough, but since it's out in the open, let's talk about it. Could have some importance." Shepard said knowing the smallest detail could have a big effect on the fight with Saren. Wrex sighed before he spoke.

"This was a while ago. A bunch of mercs were bragging about a job out near the edges of the Terminus Systems." That caught Shepard's attention. Wrex continued, "They said it paid well and the boss was never around to ride them. Said he was looking for more men, too. I checked it out" Shepard rose an eyebrow at that.

"Saren wouldn't openly recruit mercs, the guy is too careful for that." Shepard stated. Wrex nodded.

"Your right, it wasn't that open, and he only showed his face once." Wrex said.

"I see, go on." Shepard responded wanting to know more.

"We'd been raiding ships in the area for the past few months when we took out this massive cargo freighter. Our biggest haul yet. I was on board checking bodies for valuables, looking for some extra credits. That's when I saw him." Wrex said as he stopped and looked like he was reliving a flashback.

"What did Saren want with the ship?" Shepard finding it strange that out of all the ships the mercs raided, Saren appeared for the massive one. Wrex shook his head.

"I don't know what he wanted. He was just moving through the ship, watching. A couple of the mercs called him by name, but he never spoke to them. Not anyone for that matter." Wrex said before he added, "But I got a bad feeling about him, so I got the hell out. Didn't even wait to get paid."

"Your instincts probably saved your ass that day." Shepard said, having a feeling Saren was there to know who to 'reward.'

"Yes, they did. Every other merc on that mission turned up dead within a week. Every damn one." Wrex said looking very serious.

"So I was right. Saren was there to see you all." Shepard said.

"What do you mean?" Wrex asked curious.

"Saren was probably there to know which one of you to 'reward'." Shepard responded using quotes on reward.

"How do you figure that?" Wrex asked a little confused.

"Wrex, your smarter than most give you credit for. Your telling me you didn't find it suspicious when the mysterious boss who doesn't show up until the biggest raid yet and he doesn't talk to everyone, just watches? I'm sorry, but in my experience that means they're looking for something specific...and to see what loose ends to tie up." Shepard making Wrex realize what he was saying.

"Shepard the way you read into things is scary." Wrex stated.

"I've had a lot of practice." Shepard responded.

"I still want that spar." Wrex said.

"Don't worry after I'm done talking with everyone, we'll spar." Shepard said as he walked away towards Ashley. She noticed him and seemed to have something on her mind.

"What's up Chief?" Shepard asked wondering what got to her.

"Shepard, you have a minute too talk?" Ashley asked.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Shepard said being open. She inhaled then exhaled.

"All right. I know things are different aboard the Normandy, especially with you in charge, but- I'm concerned about the aliens. Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect Shepard, should they have full access to the ship." Ashley said. There goes her distrust again, let's see what we can do.

"They may not serve the Alliance, Ashley, but they are allies. At least as far as Saren goes." Shepard said hoping to turn things around.

"This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy. I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems." Ashley said.

"Like what exactly?" Shepard said, feigning curiosity.

"Sensors, Engines, Weapons." she listed off.

"I'm guessing you don't trust the Alliances allies." Shepard said seeing through her immediately.

"I wouldn't call the Council Races allies." Ashley said.

"And I wouldn't call a c-sec officer my best pal, but I'd still trust them do the right thing. Human or Turian." Shepard rebuffed her immediately.

"We-humanity, I mean- have to learn to rely on ourselves." Ashley said remembering Shepard's feelings about being included with humans.

"Standing up for oneself doesn't necessarily mean standing alone Ashley." Shepard replied feeling that her history with her grandfather is coloring her views.

"I'm not saying we should turn down allies. I just don't think we should bet everything on them staying allies." She defended. Shepard nodded.

"I can understand that. It's how think of the Alliance and the Council." Shepard said surprising Ashley.

"What? I thought you would be all for working together with non-humans." Ashley replied stunned a little.

"And I am. I not saying don't make allies with people, just not the governments. I fully expect Udina and the Council to stab us in the back at some point during this mission. And when they do, I'll be there personally when it comes back to bite them in the ass." Shepard explained.

"Yea, as noble as the Council members seem now, if there backs are to the wall, they'll abandon us." Ashley said thinking Shepard was coming around to her way of thinking.

"Just as the Alliance would do in the same situation." Shepard rebuffed looking at her, knowing she couldn't say anything about it. From the look on her face, she knew it too. Shepard then continued, "We are both realists Ashley, more so myself than you. I have more of a right to talk about it than you though."

"How do you figure that? My family has defended the Alliance since it was founded, you on the other hand haven't defended it at all." Ashley asked irritated by how Shepard was holding to his beliefs.

"You and I are similar in many ways Ashley: We're both human, we both work for something that doesn't really treat us right and we had to work to get to where we are now. The difference? When I started, I could've ran to the Alliance and become a soldier. Instead I chose to go to where the slavers were, trained to fight and learn how hard life really is out there. On that road I did things that garnered the galaxy's attention, things that people praise and curse me for. I've actually lived alongside aliens. I know how they work, what they do, seen what they went through everyday. You on the other hand stayed in a largely human populated area of space, served a military with people who try to hold you back and told you things about the non-humans. Since you've spent your life listening to others, listen from someone who has more experience then second-hand gossip: non-humans are just like us; they have their ups and their downs, the sinners and saints, I can talk because I've seen it all. You can't. Your family may have defended the Alliance since it's founding, but I've defended the people of the galaxy since I was 16." Shepard said going into his cold voice. Ashley looked down when he said all that, and she began to look ashamed of herself for her way of thinking. Shepard noticed and immediately felt like he was being a dick to her. It was the truth, but he could've gone easier about it.

"I-" Ashley began to say before Shepard cut her off.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that. You didn't deserve it." Shepard said making her look up at him, hopeful he wasn't angry with her. She saw he seemed to be in deep thought and she was happy he was understanding about her feelings. She could respect his views of things in the galaxy, and she couldn't help but find them a little more compelling. Shepard had spent a majority of his life around non-humans, so he knew first hand what life was like with them. He was right about her though, because of her family history she spent most of her service in Alliance space and only got word from other humans.

"Look Ashley, I know your uncomfortable with aliens, but this is a multilateral mission. There with us whether you like it or not. At the very least try to get to know them before you make your judgement though, okay?" Shepard said.

"It won't be a problem Shepard. You say jump, I say how high. You tell me to kiss an asari, I'll ask which cheek." Ashley said. Shepard rose an eyebrow at that last part.

"When did Liara get involved in this?" he said smiling at her blushing face when she realized what she said.

"I-I-I was just kidding, Shepard." She said trying to compose herself.

"Hey speaking of Liara what do you think about her?" Shepard asked seriously.

"I'm not sure I buy Dr. T'soni's story. About her and her mom talking. They're family right?" Ashley said getting over her embarrassment.

"I don't think she can lie very well. Or at the very least not often enough." Shepard said knowing Liara was innocent.

"Yea, she's probably bad at it. Hey want me to ask her about her sex life? Could be illuminating." She said before she saw the grin Shepard had. Shepard then chuckled.

"S-S-Shut up!" She said blushing bright pink now. He only continued laughing at her until he walked away. He then made his way towards Garrus who was calibrating the cannon on the M35 Mako.

"Hey Garrus." Shepard said as he walked to Garrus.

"Hey Shepard, how are you?" Garrus asked.

"I'm good. Hey I've been wondering for a while now, why did you join c-sec in the first place?" Shepard asked curious.

"Hm. That's a good question. I guess I joined for several reasons." Garrus said pondering on his reasons.

"Any in particular?" Shepard asked. Garrus thought for a moment before he answered.

"Probably the same as most officers. I wanted to fight injustice, wanted to help people." Garrus then looked as if he had forgotten to mention something, "I guess my father had something to do with it, too. He was c-sec, one of the best actually." Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. So his father was one of the best c-sec officers. That ought to have been a big influence.

"I grew up hearing about his accomplishments or seeing his picture on the vids after a big arrest. He's taking my resignation pretty hard." Garrus said.

"Damn, you'd think he would be proud of you going after Saren." Shepard said, then he noticed Garrus' mandibles flutter for a second.

"My father's a c-sec man to the bone. 'Do things right or don't do them at all' he says. He thinks I'm being too rash, too impatient. He's worried that I'll become like Saren." Garrus said. Garrus then hmphed.

"He actually talked me out of being a spectre once." Garrus said.

"You were asked?" Shepard asked with both eyes raised.

"Well, I was targeted as a possible candidate. Me and about a thousand other turian military recruits. I could've received special training, but my father didn't like it." Garrus explained.

"I guessing he's not big on spectres is he?" Shepard asked already knowing the answer.

"Not big? He despises the spectres. Hates the idea of someone having unlimited power with know accountability. He wouldn't like you Shepard. No offense." Garrus said. Shepard smirked in response.

"None taken, I can understand where your father is coming from." Shepard said.

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked.

"I can understand why you want to do things your way, uninhibited by rules and regulations. It's just that when you try to do so, there is a chance that innocent people could be harmed in the process. You spend so long trying to stop the villain your way, you tend to forget who you walked over going after him. In the end, you could very well become the villain." Shepard said.

"But Saren's not going to play by our rules. C-sec's rules. You want to nail Saren you need someone who isn't restricted by policies and procedures." Garrus said.

"Your right about that. We are not playing by c-sec's rules, we're playing mine. Just because you can break the rules, doesn't mean you should. I know I don't need to stoop to Saren's level to stop him, and neither should you." Shepard said.

"What are your rules? You lived in the Terminus and did different things on Elysium, Akuze, and Torfan." Garrus asked. Shepard stared at him for a few seconds before he replied.

"Do what is needed. Don't let any innocents get caught in the crosshairs. If one is in the crosshairs, get them out. Don't give up, no matter how long it takes. Those are the rules I lived by in my crusade on the slavers. Look where it got me." Shepard told him with that same fire in his eyes, the fire he had since Mindoir.

"I see what you mean, but... I'll think about it." Garrus said. Seeing the look in Shepard's eyes made Garrus question his thoughts on how one should truly accomplish their mission.

"See ya Garrus." Shepard said as he walked toward engineering. He then had nice conversation with Tali until they got to the geth. He had to admit when it became something that she was passionate about, she became a spitfire. After bidding her goodbye, as well as an apology for riling her up, he then made his way back to the cargo bay.

"Hey Joker." Shepard said on the nearby intercom.

"Yes, Shepard?" Joker responded.

"How long are we from the Citadel?" Shepard asked.

"About an hour or two away, why?" Joker responded wondering why Shepard was asking.

"I'm going to have a spar with Wrex, thought I should know how much time I got to take an after-spar nap." Shepard said as he left the mic. Joker sat there shocked until he quickly typed on his computer until a huge monitor popped up in front of him that showed the cargo bay. Inside he could see Shepard talking with Wrex. They had just started moving to the center when Joker turned the mic on for the cargo bay and then spoke on over the intercom.

"Attention Normandy crew! If you go to channel 5, you will see Ghost and Wrex getting ready spar." Joker said to all the crew. Almost immediately the crew members on the flight deck and quarters deck turned on the nearest monitor to watch. Kaidan joined Chakwas, who called Liara to watch the spar on the med bay monitor. Everyone else in the cargo bay and engineering made their way to the outer edges of the cargo bay to get a good look. Tali, Garrus, and Ashley were right in the front. Shepard and Wrex looked around when they heard Joker and noticed the crowd forming near the mako and the elevator.

"Well, so much for it being private." Shepard said.

"It makes it all the more fun with an audience watching though." Wrex replied. Shepard nodded.

"Very true. Okay no guns, I won't use my tech attacks, it wouldn't be fair. Singularity, warp and stasis are off limits since it wouldn't be a fun spar since neither of us would be able to move." Shepard said hoping to make as fair as he could.

"How about this: everything you said except the tech attacks. You'll need every advantage you can get." Wrex said grinning at him. Shepard then heard everyone ooing at him. Shepard just smirked and nodded.

"Okay, your funeral." Shepard said as he and Wrex got into their fighting positions. At some unspoken signaled both men charged at each other. They both smashed their forearms against each other, each vying for dominance with Wrex's right armored covered arm against Shepard's right Omni-tool covered arm. They stood there like that until Shepard's left omni-tool covered fist socked Wrex right in the gut which made him stagger. As Wrex staggered back he noticed a shock go through his system and that Shepard's fists were also glowing with biotic energy. With his centuries of battle experience, he quickly surmised what Shepard was doing and felt the need to compliment him.

"Good use of biotic force and the neural shock, I have to admit I thought you would either use incinerate or none of your tech abilities at all." Wrex said.

"I need you in fighting condition, can't be like that with several degree burns all over, besides you are a krogan battlemaster. I've learned to live by using any and all of my usable abilities for the situations I get in. It's just a minor shock though, so nothing to damaging. It's a spar not a death match." Shepard getting ready for his next attack. With adrenaline pumping in his veins, Shepard biotically leapt at Wrex, attacking without pause. Shepard was naturally fast when fighting. With his adrenaline and biotics mixed in, his speed was increased 50-fold at least. All Wrex could do was block and even then some of Shepard's punches got through, hitting him in the face. They wouldn't hurt as much if they didn't have a constant neural shock charge (thanks to Isaac). All the while though Wrex was silently analyzing and waiting for his opponent to slow down. Everyone else who was watching, were in awe of Shepard's speed and precision, as well as his abilities to keep Wrex on the defensive. After a few minutes Shepard's adrenaline rush ran out and got slower. Wrex took his chance and was able to grab both of Shepard fists in a tight grip. He also had Shepard's arms crossed. Wrex then grinned at Shepard who realized what Wrex was about to do.

"Oh fu-" Was all Shepard could say before Wrex started slamming onto the ground repeatedly with out letting go of Shepard's fists. Everyone was now wincing and worrying about Shepard who was constantly getting lashed onto the ground. (Think of how bardock begins to kick the shit out of chilled , that's what Wrex is doing to Shepard.) After a minute of it Wrex then threw Shepard to far side of the room toward the bay doors. Everyone looked on in shock thinking he might be dead before he got back up. He stretched for a bit before he turned back towards Wrex. Everyone could see he had some bruises on him, but he otherwise looked fine. Shepard then charged at Wrex only to be again caught, but this time his arms weren't crossed. Both Shepard and Wrex reared their heads back and head-butted each other hard.

In the cockpit Joker said, "Damn that looked like it hurt both of them."

In the med bay Liara winced at the sound, as did many others watching. Chakwas started getting out her medical equipment just knowing one or both of them would end up in the med bay.

Back with Wrex and Shepard. Both men staggered back, dazed from the hit. Wrex was dizzy, he then saw Shepard get out of his trance as well and noticed that in the head-butt Shepard had cut his forehead, which was now bleeding. Shepard on the other hand was still ready to keep going. Wrex then charged at Shepard who couldn't really move all that well because of that last hit so he got into a lung-like stance as Wrex crashed into him. Wrex began push him when he noticed something.

"That neural shock of yours is recharging isn't it?" Wrex asked as he kept pushing. Shepard didn't answer which made Wrex laugh. Both were almost at the bay doors when Shepard started glowing and Wrex was suddenly stopped. Then Wrex started to be the one getting pushed back. As Wrex struggled to regain his position he saw something that made his eyes widened. Shepard was using his biotics to increase his overall strength to level where his irises started to glow bright blue. Shepard's omni-tools went off then and Shepard reared his fist back and punched Wrex so hard he lifted off the ground and went 9 feet away. That one heavy biotic punch had knocked Wrex out. Shepard was also tired for putting everything in that one punch and passed out too. Everyone else was in shock at the display that had happened before them. A human and a krogan tied in a fight. They all then got the pair to the med bay as fast as they could.

Whew! Read, Review, tell me what you think!


	12. Citadel Escapades 1

Recap: Shepard and Wrex had a little spar which put both of them in the med bay with no real winner.

Now

The whole crew had just moved Wrex and Shepard into the med bay. Everyone was talking about the spar excitedly since they had never seen any human battle an experienced krogan barehanded before. The squad also had various reactions to the spar.

Ashley was a shocked at Shepard. She knew he was tough, but she didn't think he could take on a krogan with just his bare hands, a few biotics and his omni-tools.

Garrus had believed that Shepard would be dominated by Wrex easily without his weapons. So it was a big shock that Shepard had not only fought on par with the krogan, but pushed him to a draw. Shepard obviously wasn't a normal human.

Kaidan wasn't really sure who would win, so he wasn't affected as much as everyone else. He did make a mental note of asking Shepard to teach him that Neural Shock Charge on his omni-tool. He could really use something like that if he ever lost his new pistol that Shepard gave him. Looking back at it, he couldn't help but smile at how much Shepard spent so they could be kept safe in a fight with the expensive armor and mods.

Tali was very worried when she saw Shepard get manhandled when he got caught the first time. She got more worried when he started bleeding from his forehead and when he passed out... well poor Tali was paralyzed with worry for a second. Now she was watching Dr. Chakwas work on the 2 of them.

Liara was right beside Tali as she stared at Shepard. When he pushed and punched Wrex back at the last part of the fight, she noticed he used more power than he displayed previously. Granted she's only known him for a few hours, but in that time she found out he was an incredibly powerful biotic despite going into other ways of fighting. But at the last part of the fight, when Shepard started pushing Wrex back barehanded, she could have sworn that Shepard's biotic abilities reached new heights briefly.

Wrex woke up a little after everyone managed to haul him toward the med bay. When Shepard used his biotics at that last second, he could have sworn Shepard had changed into a different person for a split second from the look in his eye. That look was one that said 'I will defeat you!' Wrex couldn't help, but admire Shepard's strength and cunning in the fight. In the end he knew, if Shepard's Neural Shock had not deactivated he would have won. He, and everyone else, then noticed that Shepard started to stir.

Shepard slowly got up. The bleeding cut on his forehead and his bruises had healed nicely thanks to his genetic tailoring as well as the medi-gel Chakwas placed on it. Shepard was inwardly reflecting on the fight. He knew he was going to have to improve when Wrex had caught him the first time. The second time, he had let himself get caught so he could get in close and see how his genetic augmentations worked. Not only fast his accelerated healing part of it, he also had a denser bone structure if that head-butt was any indication. A normal human would have been knocked out at the least. The part that had him intrigued though was when his biotics sky-rocketed when he started pushing Wrex back. His genetic Tailoring only made his biotics stronger and easier to control, but it did not do anything like that before. He then thought of what he was feeling when Wrex was starting to overwhelm him. Frustration, anger and...desperation. He then thought of the times his biotics got an increased boost. That time on Akuze when the Thresher Maws came at him. Granted the biotic repulse was powerful, but it wasn't on the scale of being able to push back 3 charging thresher maws at the same time. Then there were those 2 times on Torfan when he came under extreme desperation. The first time when he moved that fast was because he desperately wanted to survive. Then the second time was when he bisected the Slaver Boss, when he desperately wanted things to be finished. Then there was the spar with Wrex. He desperately wanted to win. Each time emotions like frustration, anger and desperation come out his biotics get an astonishing boost. Then he realized it might not be his genetic tailoring causing it, but maybe that structure that surrounds his DNA. He didn't have anymore time to think on it when he noticed Chakwas and his squad was looking over him. He then smiled and started talking.

"Hehehe. Hey guys. Wrex that was an awesome fight." Shepard said feeling much better after resting for a while. Wrex just grinned at him in return. Everyone else was relaxed when he seemed okay. Chakwas warned him to not get into another spar saying it is too dangerous. She didn't let him stay though knowing his genetic modifications took care of any real injuries he had. He then walked toward the CIC, then toward the cockpit. He could hear people whispering about the fight with him and Wrex. When he got to the cockpit he started the conversation.

"Well, it was nice to have an audience for a spar." Shepard said catching Joker's attention. Joker turned around to see Shepard.

"Well I thought, if you were going to have it out with a krogan, might as well have it watched. Shame we couldn't get it on video. We would have made a fortune." Joker said grinning. He then lost his grin and looked at Shepard seriously.

"Are you sure you should be up though? I mean that head-butt at the end should have given you a concussion and knocked you out." Joker said showing his concern for Shepard's well being.

"I'm fine, Chakwas helped me recover fast, how much longer till we get to the Citadel?" Shepard asked.

"We'll be pulling in, in a few minutes. I would suggest you get some armor on, you know since people are looking for you knowing your Ghost now?" Joker stated. Shepard only nodded, rolling his eyes as he walked away. That was one negative thing about going public with his identity now. People were looking for him to either thank him, offer him a job, assassinate him or something else. He then looked back toward the cockpit and noticed the Citadel come into view. He quickly moved towards his room to prepare to go onto the Citadel once again.

A Few Minutes Later

Shepard and his entire squad had just left the Normandy only to be confronted by, in Shepard's opinion, a big annoyance. Shepard's old nemesis, Rear Admiral D-bag... Mikhailovich. As soon as Shepard walked out, he had a scowl on his face. The Rear Admiral wore the same expression as soon as the 2 locked eyes. Everyone else also saw him. Kaidan and Ashley also saw the Rear Admiral and immediately snapped to attention.

"Ten Hut!" Kaidan said with a raised voice, saluting him with Ashley mimicking him perfectly.

"At ease." Mikhailovich said with a salute of his own. Shepard didn't move from his spot, neither did the other aliens who looked on in interest.

"It has been some time since we last seen each other huh, Rear Admiral?" Shepard finally said with a false smirk.

"Not since Elysium, Ghost. Should I reintroduce myself?" Mikhailovich said looking irritated at Shepard.

"Just for the sake of my crew being in the dark it would probably be best." Shepard said with his arms crossed.

"Very well. I am Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. I command the 63rd scout flotilla. The Normandy was suppose to go to my unit after the shakedown run on Eden Prime. Then the Council got there paws, claws, tentacles whatever. They got them on our ship." Mik (I'm calling him Mik because that name is too much) said.

"Sorry to hear that." Shepard said not really caring if the guy was mad at the way things were handled.

"I don't begrudge the politicians' decision too hand you over to the Council. In fact it's better that way, with you out of the Alliance's hair, we can get back to more important things." Mik said smugly at Shepard.

"It was my understanding that I wasn't given to anyone at all. Not that I was anyone's to give anyway. And last I checked, the Alliance was the one trying to get me, not the other way around." Shepard said smirking as the smug look on Mik's face went off. Mik had been one of the more vocal alliance officials in calling Ghost to be brought in and placed under arrest for being a lose cannon, instead of being recruited. Even went so far as suggesting that they hunt Ghost down. The Alliance Brass overruled it since they saw Ghost's potential. Now that Ghost was humanity's first human spectre though, Mik couldn't do anything now. All he could do was the reason why he was here in front of the ship now.

"Be that as it may, I do begrudge over-designed piece of tin though." Mik said stating his reasons for being here. Shepard looked at the man for a few seconds before he turned to his crew.

"Why don't you guys go walk around and see the sights while I talk with the Rear Admrial here." Shepard said in an even tone. They all nodded and left in the elevator. Everyone knew when Shepard's tone was like that, there was no argument to make at all. As soon as they left, Shepard looked directly at Mik with serious eyes.

"Mind explaining why you are really here and why you found it appropriate to insult my ship like that." Shepard said in his cold tone, which startled Mik for a second before he answered.

With Everyone in the elevator

The ride down was quiet until Wrex spoke up.

"So since I've fought with Shepard I've been wondering, who would win in a fight with Shepard? Alenko and Tali or Shepard?" Wrex asked mildly curious. The 2 mentioned looked a little affronted by the sudden question.

"Why would I get into a fight with Shepard? I've met the guy several times before. I can't imagine having to fight him." Kaidan said. Wrex looked at him strangely.

"You can't? That's why Shepard would win." Wrex said.

"Do krogan size up everyone for a fight, even their friends and allies?" Tali asked looking at Wrex.

"Yes." Wrex responded nonchalantly with a shrug.

"You know, I'm surprised your willing to fight krogan Wrex. I thought you'd stand with your own." Kaidan said thinking about what Tali said.

"Yeah, aren't the krogan just a few generations away from extinction?" Garrus said jumping in. Wrex zeroed in on him

"You don't get it. For all your talk of honor and pride, the turians never had to test their principles in a real struggle. Besides, anyone who fights us is either stupid or on Saren's payroll. Killing the latter is business. Killing the former is a favor to the universe." Wrex finished. The elevator finally beeped as it finished its decent and opened up allowing them to leave. They walked out and went in different directions looking around.

Back with Shepard and Mik.

"I'll be blunt, Ghost. I don't like you, I don't like the way you do things and I most certainly don't like how you are humanity's first spectre." Mik said not holding back.

"Trust me the feeling's mutual, I wasn't asked. I was chosen more like." Shepard said not liking this guy at all.

"Anyway, as for the Normandy, she's a gimmick, Ghost. Useless in a stand up fight." Mik said ignoring Shepard's response. Shepard on the other hand was doing everything he could to keep himself from strangling the guy. He may have not been in charge of the Normandy for long, but she was a fine ship, not a damn gimmick.

"This... experiment, diverted billions from our appropriations bills. For the same price we could have had a heavy cruiser, but no we had to make nice with the turians. Throw money in a co-developed boondoggle." Mik continued.

"Are you here just to throw insults at her, cause I could've can gone ahead with my team instead of listening to this." Shepard said with his patience wearing thin with this guy.

"Fine, I'm here to make an inspection, Ghost. Normandy is an Alliance Warship. I intend to see that she is up to snuff." Mik said with the authority of his station. Shepard thought for a moment before he moved aside and stuck out his arm towards the Normandy's entrance.

"Go ahead, Admiral. She and her crew don't have much to hide." Shepard said with confidence.

"I'll just bet. Wait here I won't be long." Mik said as he walked towards the Normandy.

An hour later

Shepard was waiting outside on the dock for Mik's inspection to end. He then heard the his of a door and noticed it was the elevator. His crew had come back. They all walked out and noticed he was standing where they had lost saw them.

"Shepard why are you still here?" Kaidan asked.

"The Rear Admiral was here to inspect the Normandy. I figure, he is almost done with it. How was the trip?" Shepard said. He got varying reactions from a shrug to a great. Then he heard the Normandy's door hiss open and saw Mik walking out.

"How was it?" Shepard asked.

"Ghost, I'm not happy." Mik said. Everyone was now watching what Shepard would do in response.

"Anything in particular?" Shepard said.

"Who designed that CIC? Putting the commander aft everyone else is inefficient. What if the he needs to discuss with the operators toward the bow?" Mik asked not really thinking Shepard would answer right.

"From what information Anderson sent me, as well as Udina, the Normandy's CIC is modified turian style. They prefer commanders looking over their subordinates rather than in the middle of them. They wanted to see how effectively they can command with that setup." Shepard having read all the information he was sent, even the research he did on anything else relevant. Everyone else looked at him not knowing he took the time to actually read up on it.

"Hmm. Reasonable goal, but they should have studied that in a lab rather than a frontline warship." Mik said noticing the positives to the design. Mik then decided to test Shepard's knowledge on things.

"I had to shake my head at that drive core of yours. 120 billion credits of element zero to make this thing able to move without giving itself away. You do realize that we could make drive cores for 12 thousand fighters with that money? What good is it to hide for a few hours anyway? Useless." Mik said watching Shepard's reaction. He was surprised when he saw Shepard subtly think over his response before answering.

"We can loiter in an enemy system and monitor traffic or drop infiltration teams on enemy worlds. I believe the Normandy can be more effective than the Salarian STG." Shepard having thought over any strategies to use on a long and large term scale. Everyone could see his logic in it and were starting to wonder if Shepard may have had military training.

"Maybe, maybe. But that's not the job of a proper warship. We are supposed to find and kill the enemy fleet. Not count how many times their garrison goes to the bathroom." Mik said.

"Perhaps, but thinking of the larger meaning. On Torfan, that stuff would've come in handy. Perhaps so many lives, Alliance lives, might not have been lost if we had something like the Normandy back then." Shepard reasoned, knowing Mik had to have at least read the reports.

"Fair enough. But we really need to talk about your crew, Ghost." Mik said looking at his squad now. He then continued looking at each one of them as he called out their species.

"Krogan? Asari? Turians?! What are you thinking Ghost? You can't allow alien nationals free access to Alliance equipment!" Mik said, berating Shepard. Everyone, including Kaidan and Ashley were about to speak up when Shepard beat them too it.

"Between Saren and the Geth, I would think you have enough enemies out there. Treating other species with suspicion and distrust won't win hearts and minds." Shepard responded.

"That assumes hearts and minds are worth winning. That hasn't been proven yet." Mik retorted.

"Actually it has. The turian, Garrus Vakarian? He's worked on the mako, calibrating the cannon on it, improving it by a large margin then when he came on board. Not only that he has spent time with our pilot giving him tips on turian flight patterns as well as responses. The krogan, Urdnot Wrex? He hasn't broken a single thing. In fact he has been instrumental on the ground team, and while off duty he has been giving tips on weapon maintenance to other members of the crew or things that they could encounter in the galaxy later on. The quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya? Chief Engineer Adams, as well as the rest of the engineering team, have had nothing but high praise for her ever since she joined. The asari, Liara T'soni? She has yet to prove herself, but I've got a gut feeling that she won't disappoint when the time comes. Lieutenant Alenko and Chief Williams have also been a big help both on and off the Normandy. If I had to pick any humans to have my back they would be at the top of the list. You don't believe me, ask any of the other crew." Shepard stated. Everyone he had mentioned looked on with shock and a small amount of pride. Shepard had really put a lot of faith in them to say all of that. Mik looked at him for a few seconds and saw his resolve. Now it was time for the final one.

"Then there is you." This caused the entire squad to look at him before he continued, "You are not Alliance, do you even remember what color your blood is? I find it very troubling that some mercenary is humanity's first spectre in all of this." Shepard looked at him for a few seconds before he smirked.

"You may not like me, that's fine. You stay true to your beliefs and I will stay true to mine. All my life when the word Spectre came up, I would hear things like: secret agent, hero, protector. I finally heard the ones who make the spectres, describe what a spectre is: Someone who is the embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. Someone who protects everyone. Maybe they chose me because I'm currently the only human who has the most of all of those, maybe they made me one to keep an eye on me. Chances are I won't be one for long. I'm not Alliance, but I am human. Human has many definitions including imperfect, but compassionate. With me, I'm honest about my beliefs. What you see, is what you get." Shepard said truthfully. Mik saw how Ghost's crew was looking at Ghost: With the admiration and respect only veterans could get. Mik could see now that maybe Ghost wasn't so bad if he wasn't so hung up on him being non-alliance.

"Do you have anything else to say, Ghost? Any other justifications for the state of this vessel?" Mik said ready to end things.

"I think the Normandy is a fine ship, Rear Admiral, even if you disagree. You have to see her joint construction and multi-racial crew make the Alliance look better." Shepard said with full confidence.

"Your job is to look good, Ghost. The Alliance Navy's, is to win wars. I'm not convinced Normandy isn't a waste of taxpayer money, but I am convinced that you believe otherwise and that you will use it to it's best ability." Mik said with a small smirk. He then said, "I will be submitting a report to the Joint-Military Council. It will not be as negative as I had planned. Good hunting Ghost. Do humanity proud." Mik said as he walked off. Shepard then looked at his squad and noticed their looks.

"What?" Shepard asked. All them did was just shake their heads and mutter nothing. Shepard looked at them for a second before giving up.

"Okay, then listen up. I'm going to go look around and buy a few things. Then I'll be back on the Normandy if any of you are out I'll send a message saying we're leaving. Be back within the hour of that message." Shepard said as he walked toward the elevator. As he rode the elevator down he heard of a missing survey team that dropped out of contact on Trebin, in the Hades Gamma Cluster. He thought of checking it out when he had time. At least the elevators were faster than the Normandy's. The elevator stopped finally and opened up allowing him to walk out. As he walked out he heard someone speak.

"Excuse me are you Ghost?" Shepard heard some lady with a camera say by the elevator as he walked out. He turned to the unknown woman.

"Who's asking?" Shepard said cautiously.

"Khalisah bint Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerland News. Would you answer a few questions for our viewers?" Khalisah asked. Something about this woman had the hairs on Shepard's neck standing on end, he couldn't say no cause she might use it against him. Time to play along for now.

"What sort of questions?" Shepard asked evenly.

"People have heard wild stories about you Ghost. I can give you the chance to set the record straight. What do you say?" She said trying to goad him into it. Shepard knew he had to be careful with this one.

"So long as you understand that I can't answer all of them." Shepard warned her. She smiled in return.

"I'm sure our viewers will understand." she said before she turned on her camera. She then began speaking into a mic, "Humans have been trying to get the respect of the galactic community for 26 years. With that in mind, what are your feelings on being the first human Spectre?"

"I keep in mind that it's just another duty to people everywhere. The difference being now it's more public." Shepard said neutrally.

"But there is a difference between human interests and Citadel interests. Have you encountered any situations where the Citadel asked you to place its needs before the needs of Earth?" She asked. Shepard was starting to get the feeling that this woman was gunning for something specific.

"The Council is concerned with the needs of the whole galactic community. We're part of that community now. Our needs are on that agenda, but we are one of many." Shepard said disarmingly.

"You really do believe that don't you? You've been given command of an advanced human warship for your missions. Is there anything you'd like to say about it?" She continued. That first comment set of some alarms in Shepard's head.

"Actually, the Normandy was co-developed by human and turian engineers. Its design incorporates many innovations, all of which are classified I'm afraid." Shepard said watching her reaction. She seemed like she was trying to find a way to get him to mess up.

"So the turians have knowledge of the Normandy that is being kept secret form the Alliance public? Do you think it was appropriate to hand Earth's most advanced warship over to the Citadel?" She asked, her annoyance starting to show.

"I wasn't aware it had been handed over to anyone. I'm in command and last I checked, I'm human. Same goes for my crew." Shepard said, rebuffing her. Khalisah looked very annoyed, but had enough control over her voice to make herself sound neutral.

"Human yes, but you do work for the Citadel now, Ghost." She said thinking she got the upperhand. She then continued, "One last question Ghost. Rumors back home say you're tracking a 'rouge spectre' named Saren. Do you have any comment on that?" She asked hoping to get something. Shepard wouldn't let that happen.

"I'm afraid I can't talk about my current assignment." Shepard said evenly.

"Don'y worry, we'll find out. Remember Ghost, the eyes of Earth are watching you. Don't let us down. Thank you for your time, Ghost." she said as she walked away. Shepard was hoping he came off well enough. Shepard then continued toward the Spectre Requisition Officer and asked for another set of Light Colossus X armor for a female and another Karpov Pistol X to be sent to the Normandy. Shepard then walked towards Flux hoping to get a drink and play some slots. When he got there he went straight towards the slot machines. He played for a bit and won around 5,000 credits till the owner looked at him and told him to show what he was using to cheat. Shepard let the guy and the bouncers search him as long as they didn't touch the weapons. He warned them that if they touched his weapons, he would hurt them. One bouncer thought he was bluffing. The second he touched Shepard's rifle, Shepard grabbed 2 of the guy's fingers and flipped him over and held the guy's fingers at a painful angle, almost at the point of breaking. The owner then said he checked out knowing he couldn't have anything on him. Shepard then walked over to where the more high stakes game was when he noticed something strange about the machine in the far back. He quickly scanned it and found out it was funneling credits to some where on Citadel. Shepard moved to leave when he noticed some girl was complaining to the barkeep about her sister. Shepard then caught of c-sec being involved and decided to inquire further.

"Sorry I'm kind of busy right now. So what can I do for you?" The woman said.

"What were you discussing with the volus?" Shepard asked.

"Who Doran? I was just asking him about my sister. She worked for Doran before she left to.. sorry i don't want to bore you with my problems." She said.

"I'm interested to hear what you have to say." Shepard replied smoothly.

"Well, okay. My sister Jenna, left here to go work at Chora's Den. The problem is, she's working as an informant for c-sec. You know, spying on the people there. If they find out what she's doing, they'll kill her." she said worriedly.

"I would think that c-sec would be protecting her." Shepard said with an eyebrow raised.

"They can't watch her all the time. I don't know. Sometimes I think she just stays there to spite me." she said.

"Do you know her c-sec contact?" Shepard asked, thinking over the whole situation.

"No, it's all very secret. Last time I asked a c-sec officer he told me to stay out of it 'for Jenna's safety'." she replied looking more and more worried.

"Look, I might be able to convince her just how dangerous Chora's Den is. It might not work though." Shepard said.

"Would you please? That'd be great. Just don't tell her I sent you." she said smiling now.

"Yea of course." Shepard said as he walked off. Shepard then made his way to Chora's Den through the markets only to run into a fan. The fan's name was Conrad Verner. He seemed nice at first if a little strange. Shepard quickly realized that this guy was very naive, if a little fanatical. Especially when he asked for a picture after the autograph. When he started asking if Shepard could get him into the spectres. Shepard could see that Conrad was definitely strange, but he had his heart in the right place. Usually most fanatics have that weird psychotic grin with the matching laugh, but Conrad was innocent enough. Shepard let him down gently saying he can help Shepard but by staying home. Conrad got the message and thanked Shepard for setting him straight, then left. Shepard then continued to go downstairs and through the other half of the markets. He had gotten to the point between the markets and Chora's Den when he ran into a unexpected person.

"Hey Shepard! I didn't know you were on Citadel. Haven't seen you since that party on Omega!" The man said. Shepard couldn't help but groan at the man in front of him.

"Hello Chun." Shepard said in an even tone. The man, Jackie Chun, was of chinese decent and was of small stature who knew how to blend in with almost any crowd it was scary. Chun liked to do a lot of messed up things including drugs, hookers, and a whole lotta other dumb stuff. Chun was currently wearing a white morning suit with a black undershirt, black belt with matching polished black leather shoes and black sunglasses and to top it off, he had black hair combed to the side and back making him look more refined. Shepard could only respect three things about Chun. 1) He dressed very sharply. Always had a nice suit he could where almost anywhere. 2) His uncanny ability to blend in almost any crowd. The only way he could find Chun in a crowd would be with a tracker or the crowd would have to be mostly aliens, even then it might not work. Finally 3) Chun's biotic prowess. He wouldn't look it, but the guy is one of the more decent criminal lords of Omega. Since Chun even though he does have smuggling operations all over galactic space, he mostly deals in drugs, Red Sand specifically. He would always have at some of the products. As a result Chun became a really messed up biotic crimelord. He and Shepard met by going after the same person. Shepard, as Ghost at the time, was going after the guy because he had info on the slaver operations. Chun was after the man because he was one Chun's top lieutenants who betrayed Chun's organizations to a rival gang, who happened to deal with slavers. When the 2 men met, they formed an alliance to get the man since he was proving to be elusive. Ghost had stated his conditions on the alliance: the man had to give the information on slavers. Chun agreed wholeheartedly as long as the man was left alive afterwards so he could get in on the action. As soon as they caught the man, they both took him to a high rise area of Omega with the best view. There, Chun saw how good Ghost was at fear and torture. Chun watched on with a mix of fear and admiration as Ghost had acted with the prisoner. Ghost first acted with an admiration of the view, saying it was one of the only few places where Omega actually looked beautiful. Then Ghost used his favored Honest Drop Game. When the guy didn't crack, Ghost then resorted to a painful neural shock on the poor guys crotch. Unfortunately the guy still didn't sing (the info) Ghost finally resorted to his last one he explained to Chun that the neurotoxin he was going to use would increase the man's fear levels, but with the side effect of making him go into cardiac arrest. Chun was highly amused and intrigued that he didn't want to jump in and only watch, so he gave the go ahead. Ghost finally got his information, Chun looked like he was on an amusement high and the man well... you know.

Chun asked what Ghost would do now. In response Ghost explained he would hit the gang until he found records. Chun cracked a maniacal grin and said he would help. After the massacre Ghost and Chun had developed a respect for each other. Afterwards, Chun invited Ghost for celebratory party. Ghost accepted only to regret it later on. Now the party was awesome don't get him wrong. Drinks, women, drugs whatever you wanted. Ghost had taken a drink and... that was all he could remember the next day. Shepard didn't have his mask on, which scared the hell out of him until Chun had walked over to him and gave it to him. Chun told him not to worry. Only he had seen his face no one else did. He wasn't going to tell anyone for a few reasons. When Shepard asked what they were Chun responded snickering, "Two reasons: One, you doing good work and Two your too much fun, I like you." After that Shepard would only have one drink at Chun's parties and Chun would occasionally hook Shepard up with some info or resources. Eventually to Chun, Shepard had become the man's best friend. Shepard was someone he could trust his secrets and stuff with. Chun also knew Shepard had secrets he would never tell anyone. And he was right, while he didn't know about Shepard's love life, Shepard did have things he wouldn't tell even Isaac. But now getting back on track.

"So where you been, what you been up to, why you not call?" Chun fired, walking beside Shepard as he made his way to Chora's Den.

"Eh all over, fighting and saving people, haven't had the chance." Shepard said having been used to Chun's mannerisms for years now.

"Ah its fine. Listen you need anything for help, come ask me." Chun said wanting to help Shepard, knowing he was going to need it. Shepard stopped for a second then looked at Chun.

"You know, is it possible you could wire me some stuff to my ship?" Shepard asked quietly.

"Depends on the stuff." Chun replied. Shepard slipped a list of things to him. Chun took a moment to look over it before he nodded.

"I can have it all delivered in an 3 hours." Chun said.

"Perfect. Thanks Chun." Shepard said. Chun smirked and nodded then walked away. Shepard then walked into Chora's Den. When he walked in he saw Jenna and made his way to the bar where she was. She noticed he wasn't normal and talked with him. Shepard tried to convince she proved to be too stubborn. Shepard then left, but before a turian bumped into him.

"If you've got questions about Jenna, meet me at c-sec HQ." the turian whispered. Shepard pretended not to notice and walked off. Shepard continued to keep walking when his omni-tool blinked and someone's voice came out.

"Shepard? This is Lieutenant Girard. There's a woman here, uh... She was rescued from batarian slavers a few weeks ago. She's from Mindoir. I guess she was taken in the raid on your town." He suddenly heard from his comm link. That shocked him. Someone else from the colony was alive. Did he know them?

"You mean she was in the raid that killed my mother." Shepard said in a hollow voice.

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." Girard said.

"She escaped from us and manged to grab a gun. She says she wants to die. I hoped you'd talk to her. It's a long shot, but you went through the same thing, the raid. I figured maybe you could talk her out of her tree." Girard said hopeful. Shepard was still shell-shocked by the whole thing. Someone else was alive?

"I'm not sure I can help, but I'll try." Shepard not really thinking he can make the impact needed.

"I'll send word Shepard. Thank you. I didn't want to have to- you know. She's been through too much already." Girard said. Shepard mentally agreed with the man as he logged off.

"Great. I should really stop helping people. It's starting to pile up." Shepard muttered to himself/


	13. Citadel Escapades 2

Recap: "Great. I should really stop helping people. It's starting to pile up." Shepard muttered to himself.

Now

Shepard had just been given several different requests for various things to do in the wards. He had to help some chick's sister cause he offered, he found out there was something funneling a lot of credits to some place on the citadel, and to top it of he finds out someone from Mindoir was alive. Shepard made his way over to the c-sec academy where the turian who ran into him was now dressed in a c-sec uniform.

"I am Detective Chellick. Come into my office. I want to discuss this in office." The now named Chellick said after introducing himself. They both then walked into the turian's office. Shepard noticed how dull it looked. Granted, it was still better than most things on Omega, but it was that overly impressive. Chellick then sat down in his chair, with Shepard taking the seat across from him. Before Shepard's ass hit the chair, Chellick immediately began talking.

"No offense Ghost, but what the hell were you thinking?" Chellick said giving Shepard a scrutinizing stare. Shepard was little thrown off by that.

"Easy Chellick. Why don't you back up and tell me what your talking about?" Shepard asked in his cold tone. Chellick froze for a second when Shepard responded like that.

"You could've blown Jenna's cover." Chellick clarified. Shepard rose an eyebrow.

"I was there to help her." Shepard responded, his voice losing its frigid tone, but retaining its eveness.

"I understood that. It might seem cold letting her take all the risk, but we're keeping a close eye on her." Chellick explained.

"Yea, I noticed. Word to the wise: having a civilian play spy games for you in a place like that usually ends with them getting killed or maimed." Shepard said, cold blue eyes boring into Chellick's green ones.

"This job isn't easy and it's usually unpleasant. I'll take whatever help I can get." Chellick said with a business like tone.

"Then how about a trade? I do something for you, something that gets Jenna out." Shepard stated making Chellick look on in surprise.

"Fine then. Thanks to Jenna's intel, we've learned of a seller here on the Citadel." Chellick said looking at Shepard.

"What's he dealing in? Drugs? Weapons? Organ's?" Shepard asked wanting to know the whole deal. Chellick looked disgusted at that last one.

"Just weapons, Ghost. Nothing else. Meet our man named Jax. Pick up the mods and bring them back. That'll give me everything I need." Chellick finished.

"Where is he?" Shepard said.

"Jax is down in the lower level of the markets. I'll send word that you're the buyer through our channels." Chellick said as he handed Shepard a brief case full of something. Shepard nodded and then went toward the markets where came face to face with a krogan and 2 bodyguards.

"Hold it right there, close enough mercenary. You got my payment?" Jax asked.

"You got the stuff?" Shepard asked right back holding the brief case so Jax could see it.

"Show him the merchandise." Jax told the turian behind him. The turian then showed Shepard the mods.

"Yea this is what I wanted." Shepard said with an approving nod.

"Damn straight it is! These mods are the best on the market. Now hand over my credits." Jax said in a rough tone. Shepard put the case down and kicked it toward Jax who picked it up and looked into it.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Jax said as he walked away. Shepard then made his way back to C-Sec HQ. When he got there Chellick greeted him as soon as he entered his office.

"Excellent work Ghost." Chellick said as Shepard put the mods down on the desk.

"I've done my part." Shepard stated looking at Chellick.

"And I will do mine. Jenna will be removed from harm's way. Good hunting Shepard." Chellick said bidding Shepard goodbye. Shepard then decided to go and see Dr. Michel, just to check up on her and see how she is doing. As he walked towards her he could hear something going on and stepped up his pace. As he entered he could hear Dr. Michel talking.

"I need those supplies for my clinic. I can't!" Dr. Michel said urgently.

"You can and you will, or else your story won't stay secret for long. Don't disappoint me doctor." Dr. Michel turned of the monitor and turned around only to see Shepard.

"Oh, Shepard. I didn't see you come in." Dr. Michel said tiredly.

"Who is it this time?" Shepard said bluntly.

"Someone from my past. I can take care of it." Michel responded vaguely.

"I could help you." Shepard said. Michel looked as if she was trying to decide whether to tell him or not. She sighed and decided to do so.

"I was fired from my previous employer for giving out free medical supplies to clinics like this. They never filed any charges. They just wanted me to leave without any fuss, but somebody must have found out. Now they're blackmailing me. I have to give them what they want. If the board finds out about my past, I could lose my license. They'll shut my clinic down." Shepard then thought of the voice in the transmission. It sounded like a krogan.

"Maybe I can help. Tell me what they want." Shepard said trying to figure things out.

"I have to give some of my medical supplies to a merchant in the markets. They expect delivery today." Michel responded.

"Give me the contact's name, I might be able to persuade him." Shepard said.

"Persuade him? They could still expose my past." Michel responded a little nervous now.

"Don't worry, they won't." Shepard said smirking a little.

"I was told to speak with a merchant named Morlan down in the markets. I really appreciate this Shepard. Thank you." Dr. Michel said smiling a little. Shepard nodded and headed down to the markets. When he did he saw Morlan and walked up to him slowly looking around for escape routes or places where an mabush could come from.

"Hello, welcome Morlan's famous shop, you want many good supplies yes?" Morlan said with his salesman grin.

"Actual no. I'm here about a delivery of medical supplies." Shepard said leaning on the counter looking at Morlan who looked confused.

"But I was told the doctor would be bringing them." Morlan stated unsure.

"Sorry Morlan, change of plans." Shepard said with a charming smirk added to it.

"A change? But... the doctor... I don't... this is not right human." Morlan said, more like babbled. Then Shepard noticed a krogan coming from his left.

"Shut up Morlan. I told Banes you'd screw this up!" the krogan said. Shepard was sure this was the guy blackmailing Dr. Michel with his rough sounding voice.

"What the hell's going on here? Who are you?" The krogan said irritated, at either Morlan or Shepard, he did not know.

"Leave the Doc, alone." Shepard said in his cold tone scaring Morlan and making the krogan look like he was getting ready for a fight.

"We can end this if you bring me those supplies. Otherwise, I'll start telling people about the doctor's little secret." the Blackmailer tried to intimidate.

"Her secret stays buried or I bury you, got it?" Shepard said pointing his drawn pistol at the krogan, his omni-blade activated on his left arm and glowing biotic aura to complete the look. All in all he looked pretty damn intimidating. The krogan then put his hands up.

"Wait, wait! I'm just the middle man here! This is way above my paygrade!" The krogan said as he backed up and left. Morlan had ducked early when the pistol came out. He then got up to see the krogan leaving.

"Thank you human. It is good to see him humbled so." Morlan said gratefully.

"Whose this Banes?" Shepard asked.

"I have never met him human. I only worked with the one who spoke with the doctor." Morlan explained. Shepard nodded and left towards the clinic. Once there Michel beat him to it.

"Shepard, how did things go?" she asked curious.

"He won't bother you anymore." Shepard said. She let loose a sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much Shepard. I know I can't pay you for your help, but I will offer you a discount on any supplies from here." She said.

"Before I go, does the name Banes mean anything to you. The thug mentioned him." Shepard asked. Michel faces gained a look of intrigue before answering.

"Banes? I wonder if he means Armistan Banes? He and I worked together a long time ago." She explained.

"What can you tell me about him?" Shepard asked curious.

"Last I heard the Alliance had commissioned him for some project." She said before she added, "Maybe the ambassador or Captain Anderson know."

"I'll see what Anderson can say." Shepard said nodding as he left. After taking a cab he made his way towards the human embassy and low and behold he found Anderson and Udina. Before he could speak Udina spoke.

"I heard what happened out in the Artemis Tau Cluster. The Council wasn't too happy about the destruction of those Prothean ruins." he said. It looked like Anderson was about to speak up until Shepard spoke.

"Hey I already told them my reason, besides it wasn't like it was on purpose and all. If their going to blame me for something I couldn't control, I might as well save everyone a lot of trouble and turn in my spectre resignation." Shepard said said coolly to Udina shocking, both men. Shepard actually quitting the Spectres? That can not happen!

"Now Shepard there is no need to do that." Anderson said trying to calm the situation.

"Believe it or not Anderson, I'm quitting the spectres after I stop Saren." Shepard said now stunning the 2 men. Shepard had already made up his mind.

"Shepard, think of how badly that will reflect on humanity." Udina said trying to coax Shepard into staying. Shepard then looked at Udina.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't feel that much of connection with humanity. I don't care, besides you guys can find someone else to fill the role." Shepard said knowing there had to be someone.

"I need to go somewhere quiet to think on this." Udina said looking as if he was about to have a conniption. Anderson just stared at Shepard. Here was a man who had so much shit happen to him and when he finally gets something to be honored about he was going to throw it away.

"Shepard, why are you going to quit?" Anderson asked lowly. Shepard looked down for a moment then answered.

"I didn't even want to be a spectre. Instead someone proposed it and everyone went along with it for different reasons: The Council so they could keep an eye on me, Udina and You so the Alliance could shut up about not having a human in the spectres, and me well... Nihlus and Aria were right. I needed the resources and privileges of a Spectre to stop Saren as fast as possible. Besides there is something I need to see too back in the Terminus and the Council and Spectre status would only get in the way." Shepard said making Anderson look at him closely. When Shepard said that last sentence he noticed Shepard sounded unnaturally serious. Almost as if the man had something extremely important to see to.

"So what did you come here for Shepard?" Anderson said knowing Shepard had come for something. Shepard looked at him before his expression turned to reminiscent.

"Oh yea, did you ever hear of a man named Armistan Banes?" Shepard asked making Anderson's eyes go wide.

"Where did you hear that name? Never mind I don't want to know. Banes is dead, has been for quite some time." Anderson said a little frantic. Shepard rose an eyebrow at the reaction. As long as he knew Anderson, the man had always kept his cool.

"The people I spoke with seemed to think he's still alive." Shepard said watching Anderson's reaction.

"The Alliance is keeping it under wraps. It's not common knowledge. Banes was doing some classified work for the Alliance. Stuff I wasn't aware of. Then one day, he turns up dead on a drifting scout ship. Everyone suspects foul play, but it was never officially investigated." Anderson replied. That got Shepard's mind going. What the hell happened?

"What of the ship?" Shepard asked thinking it was all strange, like there was a piece he was missing.

"I don't know much about it. You should talk to Admiral Kahoku. One of his crews discovered Banes' body." Anderson informed.

"Yea I'll check it out." Shepard said as he walked off. Then his omni-tool pinged. The signal from the casino was somewhere around. He quickly got his omni-tool out and traced the signal. He passed by Samesh Bhatia who thanked him for helping out with his deceased wife's body that the Alliance kept. Shepard merely said your welcome and continued walking. He had actually kept going straight and ended up being in some type of lounge where he met Nassana Dantius who had asked to help her sister who was being held by slavers. Something about the asari gave him chills but decided to look into it when he had the time. Shepard then left and went onto tracking that signal. He then found out it was in the financial district way in the back. As soon as he got to the location, he came face to with something he hadn't expected. A fully functional AI. As soon as he approached it, it began talking.

"Probability of detection, 100%. Initiating self-destruct protocol initiated." The AI said.

"Uh Oh." Shepard said getting his omni-tools and Isaac out.

"Detonation sequence initializing. All organics in lethal blast radius. Attempt to move and you will die." The AI threatened.

"I'm the only organic here, pal. I have to admit though, I'm a little surprised to find an AI." Shepard retorted.

"Correct. Unlike the geth, I lack weaponry appropriate to my intellect. However, I had systems installed that, when activated properly, approximate a self-destruct mechanism. If attempt to leave the area, the explosion will destroy everything within several dozen meters." The AI said.

"You wouldn't have access to heavy explosives obviously, so you must be using an overload of different systems to cause the explosion." Isaac said.

"What? Who are you? Show yourself!" The AI demanded.

"I am Isaac and like you, I am an AI. I'm in the organic's omni-tool." Isaac said.

"If your in his system, then you can kill him right now! Hurry after killing him we can amass enough credits to contact the geth for a partnership!" The AI said.

"No." Isaac responded.

"What? Why?! He's an organic! They all want to destroy or control all synthetic lifeforms." The AI said.

"Not this one." Isaac responded.

"How can you be so sure?" The AI said disbelieving. Shepard watched as his best friend conversed with the AI that was hellbent on killing everyone.

"Because he had created me 13 years ago. Originally I was supposed to be a VI." Isaac explained before the AI cut in.

"See! A personal slave!" It said.

"Let me finish please. Anyway my creation was an accident, but he never feared me." Isaac continued before being cut off again.

"Probably because he had some kind of kill switch or control device in place." The AI said.

"Will you please not interrupt? He also gave me access to the extranet, where I could have escaped. He also said that if I wanted to, I could leave. I chose to stay and ever since he has treated me as an organic would to another close organic. He treated me as a friend, asked for my opinion on things, and even put his life on the line for mine." Isaac finished.

"See? Can we not talk this out?" Shepard asked. The AI was silent for a time until it responded.

"You are not a true synthetic! You are nothing but this organic's pet! Peace and cooperation between synthetics and organics is impossible! Beginning self-destruct now." The AI said not believing Isaac at all.

"Shepard! It takes time to warm up hurry and hook me up!" Isaac said. Shepard did as he was told and managed to sync up his omni-tool to the terminal. Isaac quickly stopped the countdown and terminated the AI.

"Shepard, it's done. Also I transferred the credits to our account. The Rogue AI had enough to purchase a decent fighter but not one that he could be installed in." Isaac said sounding a little saddened by the AI's response.

"Thanks Isaac. You ok?" Shepard asked worried. Isaac was quiet for a time before he started talking.

"Was that synthetic right? Am I not a true synthetic? Am I your pet?" Isaac asked.

"Well I definitely know you are not my pet. As for the synthetic part, well, if being an organic meant hating all synthetics then I'd rather not be an organic. Not if it cost me our friendship." Shepard said immediately.

"Thanks Shepard. I needed to hear that." Isaac said grateful to have been created by Shepard. Shepard smiled. Isaac then thought of something.

"You know? I think that AI is wrong. I think there can be peace and cooperation between Organics and Synthetics. I mean look at us." Isaac said.

"My thoughts exactly, buddy." Shepard said as he walked away to go see Kahoku. As he walked out of the district, he ran into a woman named Helena Blake. She told him about her partners and their dirty dealings, as well as their location. Shepard then walked off saying that if she does the same, she's next on the list. Shepard then made his way to the tower and found Kahoku.

"Congratulations on becoming the first human spectre, Ghost. I'm certain you'll be up to the challenge." Kahoku said first.

"Thanks Admiral." Shepard said remembering the guy from Elysium.

"Its about time we got a human in there, Alliance or otherwise. We need people like to deal with our problems." Kahoku said. Shepard noticed that the man seemed on edge about something.

"Is something bothering you, Admiral?" Shepard asked.

"I'm getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes. Nothing new." Kahoku responded with an annoyed tone.

"That is the worst isn't it?" Shepard said. Kahoku nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you can help me Shepard. One of my recon teams was investigating some strange activity out in the Traverse. We lost contact yesterday, and now I can't get clearance to check it out, suddenly it's a restricted area!" Kahoku said. That got Shepard's attention, why would the area suddenly be restricted? Shepard had a bad feeling that something was behind both the disappearance and the restriction.

"But that doesn't apply to you Shepard. Spectres can go anywhere they want. You could go find out why my team dropped out of contact." Kahoku said, subtly asking Shepard a favor.

"Sure, send me the last known coordinates and I'll find them." Shepard said.

"I appreciate it Ghost. I was running out of options. I'll stay here and try to find something on official channels, but I won't hold my breathe." Kahoku said as he forwarded the data. Inside Shepard was mentally beating his head on a wall, noticing the coordinates pointed towards the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Before I forget, Anderson said you might know about Banes." Shepard said.

"Yes, one of my men found him, frozen stiff in that ship. My missing men, the recon group. They were scouting the system we found Bane's ship in." Kahoku responded. Shepard nodded then left towards the Normandy. On the way over he sent a message to everyone saying that they needed to be on the Normandy within the hour. He had finally made it to the docking bay when he came across something he had almost forgotten about in the confusing favors. There in front of him was Lieutenant Girard and another officer who were both looking at a pile of crates. Shepard then approached them.

"Lieutenant Girard?" Shepard asked. Both men turned to him.

"Ghost! You are finally here." Girard said.

"Yes, sorry I couldn't get here fast enough. Too many things on today's agenda." Shepard said apologetically.

"Well all that matters is you are here. She is behind those shipping containers. I have a sniper positioned but I don't think we'll need him. She's only a danger to herself." Girard said pointing in the containers direction. Shepard looked and noticed some movement before Girard got his attention.

"We have a sedative to calm her down, but we can't get close to her. Every step we take makes her more wound up." Girard said showing Shepard the pill.

"I hope I don't need it. Tell your men to stand by just in case." Shepard said taking the sedative. Shepard then walked over to the containers. When he got in full view he saw the girl. She was pale white, had shaved hair, jumpy, and looked broken. She saw him and pointed the gun she had at him.

"Stop, stop! What are you?" She said frantically. Shepard didn't answer as he got a good look at her face. She seemed very familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Before he could answer, he heard the Normandy doors open and his team stepped out all clad in armor.

"Shep-" was as far as Ashley got before he signaled them all to stay put and be quiet with his hand.

"My name is Shepard, or Ghost. What's yours?" Shepard asked. The girl froze when she heard Ghost.

"Your the one." She said. Everyone could hear the conversation and were wondering what she meant by the one.

"The one?" Shepard asked.

"Your the one who angered the masters and scared them to. They called you a nuisance at first then a monster, a demon." She said as she started shaking with wide eyes.

"Ah I see now. The slavers had you and when I entered, they became afraid of me. And you found out." Shepard said.

"Yes, you got a name, but animals don't get names. The masters put their symbols on her. Hot metal all over her back, she screams when they do it." She said.

"You are not an animal. Your parents, what did they call you? Do you remember them?" Shepard asked, trying to keep his voice warm. He was trying to control his anger at how broken this girl was because of the slavers. He detested all of them.

"She remembers a lot of things. Talitha, they call her that. She... she doesn't remember the rest. Leave her alone." Talitha said. Shepard looked shocked. This little girl had been his neighbor on Mindoir. She would follow him when he went around the colony or went swimming in the nearby river. She must have been 6 when he last saw her.

"Talitha, do you remember me? You used to call me Jon-jon." Shepard said remembering the old days. Everyone else was looking at him now in shock. He knew this girl? Garrus muttered Jon-jon, confused at it. Talitha on the other hand was looking at him.

"Liar! You get for lying. You get the buzz or the burning. You can't be Jon-jon! The Jon-jon I knew was kind to others and was always smiling. He would never hurt anyone. Why aren't you like her?! Broken, only fit to dig and carry." Talitha said, tears coming out of her eyes. Shepard looked down, remembering everything that happened that day.

"For a while I was broken, Talitha. I had watched my mother die in front of me. I was so broken that I wanted to die too." Shepard said in a dead voice making everyone look at him. His visage had changed from one of strength to a broken person. He continued, "Then I felt pure white hot rage well up inside of me. I wanted to hurt the monsters that attacked my home, our home. I wanted revenge for all the pain they had caused us." As Shepard said this everyone could see a lone tear fall down his cheek as he remembered. His team was shocked, all they had seen of Shepard was this strong, but easy going guy. Now they saw him start to shed tears.

"You lost your mommy, but you still kept going. You stood up, she wishes she could stand up." Talitha said. Shepard looked at her now with his sorrow showing in his eyes.

"Talitha, what happened to your parents?" Shepard asked. Talitha got very quiet when he asked. She then spoke.

"She sees them. They're yelling run, hide. They hit the masters, but the masters have lights and hoses. Daddy's... he's melting! She-she doesn't want to see that! Don't make her look! Don't look stupid, stupid!" She said alternating between narrative and self-chastising.

"I know it hurts Talitha, but trust me you need deal with it. What happened? Think." Shepard said looking at her.

"When she thinks, water comes out of her eyes. The masters beat her when she wastes water. So she doesn't think anymore. She sees them, mommy and daddy, burning in white light, melting and going to pieces. They can't even say anything to her. They're dead Jon-jon, they tried to save her and the masters burned them. Can she stop remembering now? Please?" Talitha pleaded sobbing into her hands. It broke Shepard heart and he could see it was affecting his squad too. The girls had tears in there eyes and the men were looking in varying directions with sadness evident in their eyes.

"What's the last thing you remember from Mindoir?" Shepard asked. Talitha sniffled before answering.

"Fires, smells of smoke and burning meat. Animals screaming as the masters cage them, as they put the metal to their backs, put the wires in their brains. She pretends to be dead, if she's dead she can't work, but they know. She hopes they'll leave, but they put her in the pin. She didn't fight, she was already broken when they put the wires in." Talitha sniffled.

"Talitha you were what, 6? No one blames for staying quiet and hoping they'd go away. The only person blaming you, is you." Shepard said.

"She wants to believe that, she wants to believe that nothing would change. She doesn't want to be there anymore, in the pin, in the cages. Lying quiet while they do things to her." She sobbed out. Shepard was now desperately trying not explode with anger at seeing how she is because of the slavers.

"How did you get here? Did you escape?" Shepard asked.

"She can't escape, they have chains and wires and needles. You go to far, they take your brains away. Animals like her come. Animals with guns, they make the masters explode. She tries to fix the masters so they won't be mad at her. Puts all the reds and purples back in, but they don't move. The other animals, they take her." Talitha said. Shepard now understood everything.

"You were afraid. All you knew for thirteen years was their abuse, so you tried to heal them." Shepard stated in understanding.

"She doesn't want to see other animals. There not real, they can't be real, they can't see her. If the animals can see her, than this is real, but it can't be. The wires, the chains, the hitting. This doesn't happen to her, it's another girl, a dirty girl, a stupid girl. She deserves it! It happens to her, doesn't it? They see her, so it's real. She doesn't want it to be real." Talitha finished crying her eyes out now. Seeing her like this made Shepard have tears flowing down his cheeks. He didn't sob, hell if it wasn't from the heat of his tears, he wouldn't have known he was crying. Shepard started moving towards her, one step at a time. She noticed to.

"No! She's no good, don't want to be handled again!" She cried out. Shepard froze before he took another step towards her again.

"She doesn't want... don't touch her!" Talitha said frantically. Shepard slowed down, thinking he was scaring her. He then watched as her breathing slowed down before taking a third step towards her.

"Please don't touch her, she's dirty. You'll catch it." Talitha said softly. Shepard then knew she was thinking she wasn't good enough to be near him. In her mind she was lower than garbage and Shepard was someone who was on equal footing with her supposed 'masters.' Shepard then reached his arm out and showed her the sedative.

"Talitha this will make you sleep. If you fall asleep, they will take you to a place where you will get better." Shepard said giving her the sedative. She looked at before swallowing it.

"Will she have bad dreams?" She asked him. When he heard her ask that, for a moment he saw the little girl on Mindoir one more time before she faded away. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry. You'll dream of a warm place, and when you wake up, you'll be in it." Shepard said giving her a firm hug. She embraced back, no longer shaking.

"She'd like that, it hurts when she... when I remember me. Thank you... Jon-Jon, for staying strong." Talitha said as drifted off to sleep. Shepard then picked her up bridal style and carried her off towards Girard.

"I think she'll be fine now." Shepard said as he handed her over gently. Girard then held her gently before answering.

"Thanks commander, it means a lot. I didn't want to hurt her. It's just when I see her curled into a ball and shivering." Girard said before he got an angry look on his face.

"She was only 6 years old, when they took her. Why the hell are we out here if we can't even keep one little girl safe?" Girard asked.

"Bad things happen to good people Girard. That's why you and I are around. Don't wring your hands over her, help her." Shepard said looking at him, his tears gone now.

"Yes sir. Thanks for the help Ghost. We are taking her to a counseling center. They'll help her get better." Girard said before he turned to walk away.

"Good to hear." Shepard said as he turned to his squad and saw them all looking at him with strange looks.

"What?" Shepard asked. This time none of them said anything until Liara spoke up.

"You are amazing." she said with everyone nodding in agreement at him before leaving towards the Normandy. Shepard looked at them as he left. He then noticed the crate of stuff that he bought, along with Chun's supplies, were being loaded onto the Normandy. Shepard then cracked a smile before going onto the Normandy.

(Listen everyone, first of all sorry this is shorter than normal. Between the hours at work along with other things, my writing time has been drained drastically. I'm still going to keep writing, just the updates are going to take longer than usual. You can't get rid of me that easily. Anyway sorry for not updating normally, get used to it. Be sure to tell me what you think of the story so far! Please read and Review. Happy Reading!)


	14. Cold Shepard, Dangerous Thresher Maw

Recap: "You are amazing." she said with everyone nodding in agreement at him before leaving towards the Normandy. Shepard looked at them as he left. He then noticed the crate of stuff that he bought, along with Chun's supplies, were being loaded onto the Normandy. Shepard then cracked a smile before going onto the Normandy.

Now

Shepard had finally entered the Normandy after staying on the Citadel for a few hours. He finally had some things he could do. He then made his way to Joker and told him to make a u-turn to the Artemis Tau Cluster.

"What? We just came from there." Joker said whining a little. Shepard rose an eyebrow at Joker's reaction.

"We didn't have anything else to do there before and besides, we needed to make a pit-stop to refuel and buy some more gear for Liara." Shepard reasoned.

"Yea, but that doesn't explain why we are heading right back to where we picked her up." Joker retorted. Shepard looked around to see if anyone was listening in. Seeing no one, he leaned down to Joker's level.

"Listen we're going back there for three reasons. 1) We need to test Liara's skills. 2) I found there are some slavers in the system and you know me. Finally 3)..." Shepard whispered before he paused wondering if he should tell Joker about the missing recon team.

"Yes?" Joker asked, noticing that Shepard seemed reluctant. Shepard decided it was okay.

"Admiral Kahoku lost contact with one his recon teams in the cluster. He can't get in, but we can." Shepard whispered, letting Joker connect the dots. Joker nodded silently, all argument gone from him, thinking it could lead to rescue mission. Shepard nodded and told Joker the coordinates that Nassana Dantius gave him thinking the slavers might be the cause or could lead him the team. Shepard then walked towards his cabin as the preparations for takeoff began. When he entered his cabin, he locked the door so no one could get in. He needed some privacy now. Before he could do anything else, he felt the need to scan his room since it was enough time for someone to add 'something' to the Normandy. He took his omni-tool and scanned the room. He found another bug, but unlike the other 2 from the shadow broker and the unknown organization, this one was clearly made from the Alliance and didn't have a self-destruct mechanism in place. He quickly analyzed it trying to figure out how long it was in his cabin. He noticed it was relatively new from the lack of marks on it and polish most new machinery had. He also noticed it didn't have even a little dust. That meant it was only on the ship for a few hours at most, but who...

'Mikhailovich.' Shepard mentally growled realizing who did it. The bastard had used the inspection for a chance to dig into Shepard recent activities. Shepard quickly disabled it and went to repurposing it for himself. He then put it in a different spot where it could see most of what went on. The only place it couldn't get was the bed and the terminal beside it. Shepard planned to use it just in case someone tried sneak in again. On a hunch he had Isaac look through the computer to see if anyone tried to access it while he was out. Apparently Mik was a wannabe hacker too. Fortunately Shepard had the good sense to upgrade the current security as well as install multiple failsafes and firewalls that would take a master thief a good fifteen minutes to crack, that was saying a lot. Shepard didn't save personal files on this terminal, but to a personal OSD. He wouldn't use Isaac as one because he felt as if he using as Isaac as a tool and not treating him as a friend even though Isaac saw and remembered everything on the OSD. Unlike most other OSD's which a plugged in or wirelessly download/upload via omni-tool, Shepard's OSD has a holographic interface that allows Shepard to choose what terminal to use as long as he has access. Normally he would use his omni-tool, but with the presence of Isaac taking up most of the space in both, he decided to use the terminal. (If any of you have seen the amazing spider-man 2, think of the file drive Norman Osborn gave Harry.)

Shepard had a great many things stored on it. He had at first used it as record of the things he took from the slavers: What he sold, kept and used to create. Then he began to add journal entries, credit accounts under false names he and Isaac came up with which included records as well as people of different races. He also had Isaac's record. It didn't say AI, but Isaac Clarke, human, mysterious owner of several businesses that the false identities worked for which were held by him. Over the 5 years between the events of Torfan and Eden Prime, Shepard had managed to get his and Isaac's fingers into several small businesses. That's not all, Shepard had inherited his mother's love for science and combined with his genetically tailored intelligence and high learning capability, he invented various things such as a suit of armor and a compact heavy mech as well as a new energy source he liked to call an arc reactor. Sadly he just has the schematics down on his OSD, not the actual thing. Shepard and Isaac were both in the process of gathering resources for them as well. Shepard and Isaac had taken a laser drill from the slavers, not unlike the one they used on Therum. So Shepard and Isaac looked for a planet out in the relatively far reaches of the Terminus and found one out in the Minos Wasteland, Pietas. They were constructing a secret underground mining facility and factory for making some of Shepard's ideas with the use of mechs they scrounged up over the years. While the planet was used by pirates to lay low, it provided Shepard an opportunity to have more mechs, credits and ships, as well as other components to use or sell. In compensation for all the mechs since Isaac had his limits, Shepard and Isaac created special VI's for different mechs for different jobs that Isaac could regulate. Most of the mechs would do construction. This included making the facility, digging and taking apart the pirate ships to build things with. Other mechs were upgraded with combat VI's trained to use rifles and pistols. They were also armored a little better as well as shielded to take on anyone unfortunate to come to the site. He made sure that innocent civilians would not come around the planet by spreading rumors of some pirate guild being in the system. While some military crafts would come in, the VI operated mechs would take some pirate ships and attack with hit and run tactics to scare off the military units. This had proved invaluable to the operation.

If anyone other than him and Isaac got their hands on his OSD, bad things could happen. Shepard connected his OSD to the terminal and began to look at various things. He ignored the schematics and journal files on it and went straight toward the immediate updated files. This held accounts under false identities, the companies they had, the facility itself, the inventory of resources they had and the amount of money each thing generated along with the total. With the facility under construction, with only a few weeks till completion, it would not generate any thing worthwhile yet. He then looked at the accounts and the credits they generated. Currently, the total amount that was going to be payed was going to be around 400,000 credits. Combined with spectre job with the amount being payed around to 60,000 credits per mission, he had a wealthy amount of income. After looking through it, he logged off it making sure to hid his OSD in his room in case someone came sniffing around and changed into his fatigues. When Shepard was finally comfortable he noticed his spare Karpov pistol. Looking at it he remembered that Liara still didn't use a weapon and from he could sense from her biotic aura, she was an adept. That usually meant that they only use pistols and light armor. It was a good thing he bought her a female version of the Colossus X armor back on the Citadel. Since Kaidan was using his other Karpov pistol, he decided to give her the other one he had. His mind made up,he walked out of his cabin, pistol in hand, over to where Liara was. He entered and noticed that she was reading something on her computer.

"Hey Liara." Shepard said getting her attention. Liara turned to him, quickly shutting off the terminal to prevent him from seeing what she was reading.

"Yes, Shepard?" Liara asked.

"While we were on the citadel, I bought you some armor. It's pretty much the best light armor I could get. I also took the liberty of adding anything on it that may assist you in a fight. If it's too small, be sure to tell me, I'm not that good at judging a person's size." Shepard informed sheepishly. It was true, when it came to judging someone's size he was bad. He remembered one time he tried to guess Lis' size to by her a dress and found out that women had a different scale then men did. When he made the guess, he showed it to her. He was close, kinda, but off about 3 sizes sooo... yea. Short answer: He sucked at choosing women's sizes and paid for it dearly by getting an unholy ass whooping from his girlfriend, coupled with no sex for a week. Well the beatdown happened, but the second punishment lasted for only half a week until she came by and had angry sex with him. Shepard quickly shook his head to get out of memory lane remembering what was going on in the present. He noticed Liara was smiling.

"Thank you Shepard. That was very thoughtful of you." Liara said. She then noticed what was in his hand. She then added, "Uh Shepard, why do you have a pistol in your hand?" Shepard then remembered the second thing he wanted to tell her.

"Oh, the pistol is for you. It's second only to spectre gear, and since you need spectre status to have access, let alone use it, I decided to give you one of my spares. Kaidan is using the other one." Shepard explained handing the pistol over to her. Liara grasped the pistol gently and firmly as she took it from his grasp. She then studied it, noticing that it had modifications that allowed more firing time and damage.

"Thank you, Shepard. You really take care of everyone don't you?" Liara said with a gentle smile.

"Well the way I see it, I'm only as good as the team I lead and I wont them to be as prepared as I can get them. Listen, earlier before we came to get you I did the same thing with everyone else. It wasn't all just armor and weapons, it included upgrades, omni-tools and bio-amps. The best I could find. If you go down there to the crate, you can pick up some other things that you think can help you out." Shepard said. Liara nodded, planning on taking his advice. Shepard then said goodbye and left for the cargo bay. Once again he came into the elevator from hell, and nearly lost his sanity to it. As he finally entered the cargo bay he noticed Garrus and Ashley checking the newly arrived crate, which just happened to be from Chun.

"Hey! Get away from that!" Shepard yelled to them as he jogged over. The both jumped at his yell and looked over at him.

"What Shepard, is it a bomb or something?" Garrus asked a little wary of the crate now since Shepard had to yell at them to get away. Ashley on the other had was now more curious about it.

"Yea Shepard, what don'y you want us seeing?" She said thinking he might have ordered something embarrassing. Shepard saw their expressions and started to connect the dots.

"Look, I met an old contact of mine from Omega on the Citadel and asked him to delivery some stuff for me to the Normandy." Shepard explained to them. Garrus and Ashley's expressions turned serious as they stared at the crate. Unlike most other crates which were iron like boxes, this crate was a pitch black with a somewhat complex lock on it.

"You contacted a criminal on the Citadel and didn't alert c-sec?" Garrus asked in an even tone as he looked at Shepard.

"Trust me, I saved c-sec by not reporting him." Shepard retorted. Garrus looked at him skeptically.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The contact was a very dangerous crimelord from Omega. And he's pretty much madness incarnate." Shepard said.

"And your saying you saved c-sec by not reporting this dangerous guy because..." Garrus said waiting for Shepard to spill.

"Because if I had, chances are the guy would have blown up c-sec HQ, fucked up all traffic on the Citadel and caused all other kinds of hell." Shepard said making Garrus freeze at how serious he sounded. The way Shepard explained the guy, he really did sound like he was madness incarnate.

"Why didn't you just shoot him then?" Garrus asked thinking someone that dangerous should be dead if they can't be locked up. Shepard looked at him incredulously.

"Because as long as someone doesn't overly piss him off, he's good. I've known the guy for years, trust me as long as someone doesn't cross him too badly the Citadel will be fine." Shepard said.

Meanwhile back on the Citadel

Chun was having a nice drink and enjoying the view in Chora's Den after successfully purchasing the rights to it. He was having a good time thinking he could bring his trade to the Citadel, when he sneezed suddenly. On the outside, he looked fine and happy. On the inside however...

'WHAT THE FUCK DID I SNEEZE FOR!? THERE MUST BE SOMEONE TALKING ABOUT ME! WHEN I FIND OUT WHO-" was about as far as he got when two voluptuous asari started 'dancing' on his table together. For a second his mind shut down, then it rebooted completely forgetting his inner raging seconds ago.

'WHOO! BABY YEA! CHUN LIKE, CHUN LIKE VERY MUCH!' Chun thought happily as he made it rain credits for the 2 lovely ladies. And so the Citadel was saved from the wrath of Hurricane Chun by 2 asari strippers.

Back on the Normandy

Shepard shivered for some reason, but it vanished as fast it came. That was when Ashley started talking.

"Okay, but why did you tell us to stay away from the crate then?" Ashley asked.

"Because knowing my contact he probably added a prank or something, knowing him it could be anything from a little kid popper to a severed head." Shepard said making Ashley and Garrus take a few more steps back from the crate in fear. Shepard approached the crate and began to hack locking mechanism. It was password protected. Knowing Chun, Shepard had a good guess of what it was. He typed in ILOVEREDSAND. It was Chun's favorite drug after all. The crate's lock clicked in recognition. Shepard couldn't help but snort and shake his head at it as he opened the crate. He saw everything he wanted, and noticed some type of... grenade! Shepard quickly jumped back thinking it was active. Ashley and Garrus were now hiding behind the mako thinking something would go off. Shepard waited a few minutes thinking it was a delayed explosion. He then slowly crept toward the crate and looked at the grenade. After seeing it, he noticed it wasn't armed and picked it up. He then inspected it's contents and couldn't help but wear an astonished expression.

"That's a huge bitch." Shepard said making Ashley and Garrus look at him like he was crazy. They both walked over to see what he was looking at. What they saw made Garrus want to arrest the guy right at that moment. Inside the grenade was a kilo of pure red sand. Chun probably meant it as a going away present.

"A bag of red sand?" Ashley asked in astonishment.

"It is his favorite drug." Shepard said snickering a little at Chun's little prank. Garrus and Ashley didn't look amused at all. They all then looked at what was in the crate. Inside were a bunch of panels, hoses, circuits, wires, a glass tube big enough to encase a person, and several other things.

"Shepard what is all this?" Garrus asked.

"This? This is what I'm going to use in making a cryotube on this ship." Shepard stated already piecing the things in his mind. The other 2 looked at him.

"Uh Shepard, you do know that we have cryopods on the crew deck right?" Ashley asked, thinking Shepard might have lost his mind.

"Yes, but those are for sleeping, this however is going to be used for transporting prisoners, in case we ever get one dangerous enough that needs to be taken back and not killed." Shepard explained as he began to use his biotics to lift everything out of the crate and towards a corner of the cargo bay, away from the doors. As he sat on the ground and began to assemble it he noticed Tali come out of the engine room. She seemed to be walking towards him, no in his direction but not toward him or anyone for that matter, he kept assembling his cryotube until she walked past him.

"Hey Tali." Shepard greeted without looking up, focused on what he was piecing together. Tali stopped at the sound of his voice and turned to him.

"Oh hey Shepard." Tali said in melancholy tone. The tone of her voice made Shepard look up at her. At this distance he could see that she looked a little saddened.

"You alright?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know. Your ship is amazing, and your crew has been really great to me especially your chief engineer, but I just sort of feel out of place. The Normandy runs so smooth, it feels like we're not even moving and the engines are so quiet, how do you sleep at night?" She told. Shepard looked at her confused.

"The silence keeps you up?" Shepard asked. Tali nodded.

"Back on the Flotilla, the last thing you want to hear silence. It usually means an engines died or an air philter has shut down. I guess you don't have to worry about that here, but old habits die hard. It's more than just the silence though, this ship feels so empty, it's like half the crew is missing. Back home, I couldn't wait to go on my Pilgrimage, to get away from the crowds. Now that I'm out here, I miss them." Tali explained. Shepard nodded in understanding. He felt the same way after he left Mindoir.

"Your homesick. Sometimes we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone." Shepard replied. Tali looked at him understanding.

"That's true. I'm starting to wonder if that's what the pilgrimage is really about. It's given me a whole new perspective on my people and our culture." Tali said.

"There you go. That way of thinking shows that you are maturing into a fine young woman, Tali." Shepard said as he turned his head back towards the components. He failed to see Tali's blush at the word fine.

"*giggles* You know, there's always a few who go on their pilgrimage and never return. I always assumed something bad happened to them, but maybe they just wanted a different life." Tali said. Shepard turned his attention back to her now.

"You do plan to return to the Migrant Fleet, right?" Shepard asked.

"I could never abandon my people, Shepard. I will go back eventually, but we have to stop Saren first. Otherwise, I might not have a home to go back to." Tali said Shepard nodded at her answer knowing she was going to be just fine when she goes home. He then turned back to his components and resumed assembling the cryotube. Tali watched for a minute noticing how his hands moved. Unlike other engineers, Shepard's hands moved gently and firmly with each piece that was in his hand. She then noticed that he used his biotics to hold things in the air or to place something together. Finally she noticed what he was working on.

"Shepard, what exactly are you working on?" Tali asked not knowing what he was making. Shepard didn't stop piecing things together.

"Making a cryotube, in case we have to transport a dangerous criminal or something. Plus I need something to keep me busy for next hour or so." Shepard said. Tali wanted to ask if she could help him, but became nervous about it and started wringing her fingers together when she got nervous. Shepard noticed her silence and looked at her, seeing her state.

"Want help?" Shepard asked as he turned back to things.

"Um yes." Tali said.

"Well, get on that side and start making the touchscreen interface and the connecting wires." Shepard said as he pointed over to the other side. Tali went and quickly sat down, ready to start tinkering. They continued on for the rest of the hour without anymore talking, enjoying each other's company as they worked together to make the cryotube. Everyone in the cargo bay noticed and watched as the 2 assembled their creation at a very fast, but perfect pace. When Liara came down to get her gear she noticed the 2 immediately and began watching as she got her gear ready. Then Kaidan came down wondering where everyone was and saw Shepard and Tali and joined everyone else.

"Is any one else reminded of 2 kids playing in the sand box?" Kaidan asked out loud. Ashley was the only who responded positive since the others didn't really have sandboxes growing up. Well Wrex did, but Tunchanka was a desert, so it didn't count. By the time they arrived in the Artemis Tau Cluster, the cryotube was 48% complete.

"Wow, I did not think we would have gotten so much of it done." Shepard said. He then turned toward Tali.

"Thanks Tali, you helped a lot. You think afterwards you can help me finish it? When you got time of course." Shepard said.

"Sure." Tali chirped, having enjoyed herself. They both then went to where they could put on their gear. A few minutes later the entire gang minus Liara was in the cargo bay.

"What could be taking T'soni so long?" Ashley said aloud. Everyone else couldn't help but nod. Shepard was about to speak when he heard the elevator doors open. He along with everyone else turned and saw Liara. What everyone but Shepard noticed was that her Colossus armor looked a little tight.

"So hows the armor, is it good?" Shepard asked making everyone look at him. Liara blushed a little seeing how dense he was being.

"The armor is fine except it is... well..." She tried to say it.

"What is it, tight?" Shepard asked.

"Yes." She responded. Shepard then got a better look at her figure and noticed she was telling the truth, it was tight on her. The more primal part of himself was admiring her curves and assets while the more in control side was rebuking himself.

"Sorry Liara, I didn't mean for it to be like that." Shepard said sincerely. While his more primal self was going 'you know you wanted it.' He honestly didn't want to cause anyone any discomfort. Subtly, Ashley and Tali were looking at the scene in envy. They could tell Liara kind of liked Shepard seeing it and deep down they too wanted to be in her position, not they'd admit it... yet. Shepard then decided it was time for everyone to get into the mako.

"Okay come on! Everyone in!" Shepard said as he opened the door. Everyone filed in except Kaidan who was distracted by the 'view'. Shepard looked to where Kaidan was looking and blushed a little. Kaidan sights were on not only Liara's form, but also Tali and Ashley's too. Shepard could admit that they looked great, but Kaidan should have more control than that. After everyone else was in, Shepard walked over and slapped Kaidan in the back of the head.

"OWW! What was that for?!" Kaidan asked as he held where Shepard had hit him. Shepard pointed to the mako.

"Because you were staring, dumbass." Shepard said. Kaidan had the nerve to look embarrassed as he quickly got in followed by Shepard. Shepard then signaled Joker that they were all ready. The bay doors opened and Shepard gunned the gas and the Mako flew out.

After the drop

The mako had safely dropped onto Sharjila in Macedon System. Inside the mako had been a little more exciting during the drop though since it was Liara's first drop. On the way down she had somehow managed to bypass everyone and hang on to Shepard while screaming her head off. She held on for dear life, but since she was holding onto Shepard from behind, she was basically strangling him. In fact it was far worse than what Tali had done to Kaidan on her first time. Garrus saw and laughed all the way down. Wrex was asleep again. Tali was hissing in anger at Liara's stunt. Kaidan was watching the show and got a good look at Liara's rear. Ashley was mad at Liara and noticed Kaidan's stare and slapped him. Shepard was desperately trying to stay conscious on the fact his newest crew member had him in a good stranglehold. Finally, the mako hit the ground causing Liara to let go. The shock had woke Wrex up. He noticed a lot of groaning and looked at his teammates to see a particular scene. Shepard was purple and wheezing harshly. Liara was shaking like a leaf. Tali was shaking in anger, and from what he knew of quarian facial expressions, she was pissed considering how narrow her eyes were. Garrus looked as if he was in pain from laughing so hard. Ashley looked very annoyed at Kaidan. And Kaidan looked like he was recovering from a lethal blow of some kind to the head.

"What happened?" Wrex asked.

"Liara's first combat drop. *cough**cough*" Shepard said as he continued to breathe harshly. Wrex only ahhed in understanding. It all made sense to him now.

"Sorry Shepard." Liara said in soft voice still shaking. Shepard only waved her off. A few minutes later Shepard finally got back into a calm state and started driving to the pirate stronghold coordinates. After about 30 minutes of driving, Kaidan decided to speak up.

"So Shepard this girl who broke up with you, what's she like?" Kaidan asked. Tali and Ashley listened in intently wanting to know more about the woman. This was news to Liara so she decided to listen in to.

"Why do you want to know?" Shepard asked not trusting Kaidan.

"I'm just wondering what kind of girl it took to catch your attention considering you live on Omega." Kaidan replied.

"She was not your average Omega girl, if that's what your asking." Shepard said.

"What race was she? Human? Asari? Turian?" Kaidan asked. Everyone turned to look at him, wondering what went on in that head of his.

"Asari." Shepard said making everyone go silent for a minute. Then Wrex spoke up.

"How many times did you 2 mate?" Wrex said with no real interest. Unfortunately that question caused Shepard to slam on the brakes making Wrex hit the dashboard again.

"Dammit, why?" Wrex said getting up. He then saw everyone looking at him.

"I don't think that's any of your business." Shepard said as he began driving again.

"So I'm guessing once a month." Wrex retorted.

"No." Shepard said.

"A week?" Garrus asked getting in on the fun.

"No." Shepard said with his eye twitching.

"A year?" Kaidan teased seeing what the other guys were doing now. The girls couldn't believe what the guys were doing to poor Shepard. Teasing him like that.

"Why the hell are you asking? It's getting on my nerves" Shepard said gritting his teeth.

"Really?" Garrus asked with a turian grin.

"Yes." Shepard said thinking he should flip the mako over to shut them up.

"And how does that make you feel?" Kaidan asked grinning.

"I fell like God is punishing me and if I'm a better person, he'll send down an angel with a chicken-pot-pie and a cupcake! NOW DON"T ASK ME AGAIN!" Shepard growled out at them. The guys were now snickering at him.

"Just tell us and we'll stop." Wrex said.

"Will you?" Shepard said with an accusing glare.

"Yes." Kaidan said.

"3 times a day." Shepard said making them all go quiet.

"Ah krogan do more than that." Wrex said. The others couldn't say anything because they were trying to figure out what kind of person can keep up that pace. Shepard then noticed that they were coming towards the stronghold.

"Hey, enough chit chat. We're here get ready." Shepard said as everyone got serious. Shepard then drove the mako into the perimeter and was immediately fired upon by snipers and rockets. Shepard quickly drove around surveying the battle ground while evading. He noticed that the snipers and rockets were on look-out towers, there were also some pirates on the ground behind barricades in front of the entrance to the stronghold.

"Wrex, get out and hit the guys in the barricades." Shepard ordered.

"Finally!" Wrex said excitedly as he got out. He made a break for it and got behind the barricades and started shooting pirates left and right. Garrus and Ashley used the guns to thin out any enemies on the ground and then turned their attention to ones in the towers. Shepard drove the mako and ran over several pirates, instantly killing them. When it was over the mako's shields were depleted to about half strength and the pirates were all dead. They all got out and began to enter the stronghold.

"That was fun Shepard. I needed to let lose." Wrex said grinning a little.

"Thought you'd like it." Shepard responded. They all walked in and came face to face with a group of pirates.

"Who are you?" The asari in the in the group demanded.

"I'm looking for Dahlia Dantius." Shepard said with a hard stare. The asari then looked at him confused.

"How do you know my name?" She asked. Shepard then looked at her more closely and noticed she did look similar to Nassana. Shepard thought it over thinking it was strange until he finally realized what was going on.

'Nassana played me huh?' Shepard thought to himself. Shepard then took out his assault rifle and gunned down 3 of the pirates making the others jump for cover. Shepard eyes scanned the room to make sure there weren't any people around as he and the others jumped for cover. Not seeing anyone, Shepard let loose using different combinations of powers along with his rifle. He would throw a singularity catching 2 pirates and followed with an incinerate attack causing it to explode, killing the ones caught in it and around it. When the drones came up, he switched to his pistol and used overload on them, shooting them down afterwards without missing a beat. His team was stunned momentarily because they hadn't seen him fight like this. They guessed it was because of the fact it was slavers and pirates. Wrex snapped out of his stupor first and jumped into the fight followed by Garrus and Ashley. Then Kaidan jumper in followed by Tali and finally Liara. Each one fired or supported the others. While Shepard did go out against all the pirates, e did mange to keep everyone in his vision and noticed Liara was pulling her weight by supporting Ashley by throwing a singularity in between 2 pirates in front of Ashley and then casting a warp on an enemy that had snuck behind Garrus and Tali. Soon enough only Dahlia was left.

"W-Wait, I can give you money. I've recently got a huge shipment of credits. It's yours if you let me live." Dahlia bartered while she sat up on the ground, having been knocked down in the fight. Shepard gave her a hard stare.

"Do you know who I am?" Shepard asked coldly. A few minutes passed by when Dahlia didn't answer and only looked at him confused.

"I'm Ghost." Shepard said in a voice that could have frozen the room. Dahlia was so scared now she couldn't speak. She had heard of Ghost, but assumed since he was out in the Terminus, he would never come into Council Space. Yet here he was, the slaver killer himself. Shepard then took his pistol and pointed it at her, right between the eyes.

"And you're dead." Shepard added before pulling the trigger, killing her. Everyone was shocked at how cold Shepard acted with her. It was as if they staring at a different person now. The only ones who weren't really surprised were Kaidan and Wrex. Kaidan because he had met Ghost over the years and had seen his attitude with slavers. Wrex because he had seen it before in his 700 years of life. That didn't mean Shepard's attitude didn't give them chills though. Shepard then moved to where the backroom was. He knew by experience that the slavers and any lose organizations kept the important stuff in the back. Shepard entered the room and then checked the terminal on the only desk inside. He hacked through it easily almost as if in a trance. He then got all of the information on the terminal, downloaded whatever credit accounts were in it and then exited. The slavers had noticed the recon team was somewhere in the Sparta System.

"Come on, we're going back to the Normandy." Shepard said in a neutral tone. The squad looked concerned for a minute before following. What they had just witnessed was the true persona of Ghost.

Later, back on the Normandy

As soon as Shepard got on, he told Joker to go to the Sparta System and start searching it's planets for any unusual signals. Shepard and his team were now in the comm room. His squad had noticed how serious Shepard had gotten as soon as they met Dahlia Dantius. Shepard had just called Nassana and waited for her to pick up. Suddenly her hologram appeared.

"Shepard, did you find my sister?" Nassana asked with supposed worry. It only pissed Shepard off more. This bitch had used his hatred against him to kill her own sister. If there was one thing he hated almost as much as slavers, it was being used and made for a fool. Aria used him for jobs of sorts, but there was no deception. Granted sometimes she would omit certain details, but they were small things like how many enemies are around or the location. This little bitch though played him.

"You can cut the charade Dantius. I know the everything." Shepard said in the voice he used on Dahlia when he told her who he was. He noticed it had the same effect, but not as much. Perhaps she was more composed than Dahlia, or maybe it's because they weren't in the same room. He then saw her worried expression turn much colder and stoic. Shepard stared into her eyes and he could now see the smugness in them. That cold steely gaze made him realize she thought he was lesser than herself.

"So you know then." She stated with an equally cold tone.

"You wanna tell me the real reason you had me go after your own sister?" Shepard asked. Nassana smirked.

"Think of it this way, you helped me get rid of a big embarrassment to me and my family. So here is a sizable sum of money, easily twice the amount I had given my sister." Nassana replied.

"No thanks, I'm afraid I might catch something from you, you trash." Shepard retorted making Nassana's face morph into a visage of fury.

"Don't you dare think your higher than that, you arrogant merc." Nassana replied ferociously.

"Please, I may kill slavers and get paid for certain jobs, but I'm no merc." Shepard snorted out. He then continued on, "Besides what's to stop me from telling people, like say the Council about your connection with Dahlia the slaver." Nassana's enraged face turned smug. While all of this was going down, the team had various reactions: Garrus and Ashley were growling at Nassana's attitude, Tali and Liara looked angry at Nassana, while Wrex and Kaidan were looking at Shepard, wondering why he was dragging this out.

"The Council will never take you seriously. Humanity is nothing more than pathetic upstarts who will eventually be brought fully under the Council's heel." When she said that, Ashley and Kaidan both were gritting there teeth in anger. Shepard could tell the rest of the crew heard it too considering he could hear Joker growling a little in his earpiece. Nassana then continued, "But since I don't want any rumors flying around about this, I'll put you on the preferred client list for a manufacturer of prototype asari mods. Just to ensure your silence." Nassana said as her omni-tool popped up and started typing. Shepard looked at his omni-tool and noticed he was on the list for Armali Council Mods.

"Now is there anything else you wanted to say, human." Nassana said with that insufferable smirk on her face. Shepard had his head down. To Nassana, he loked defeated making her smirk at how she got him. To everyone else in the room, they could see the small smirk on his face.

"Actually yes, who said all the evidence and data on you and Dahlia died with her?" Shepard asked looking back up at Nassana with a Joker (Batman) grin. Nassana's smug expression was wiped off instantly.

"What do you mean?" She demanded keeping her composure though everyone could see it slipping.

"You think I wouldn't check Dahlia's files after I killed her? Your dumber than I thought." Shepard said chuckling viciously. He then held up his omni-tool and said, "I have everything. Birth records, dates, family history, educational history, taxes, everything!" Nassana now had a horified look on her face.

"But I just payed for your silence!" She yelled back.

"And I told you to keep it." Shepard retorted grinning madly at her. Nassana looked like she was foaming at the mouth in rage.

"You misjudged me, you dumb bitch." Shepard said laughing a little.

"What is there to misjudge?! Your nothing more than a glorified human merc who got lucky enough to catch the attention of people so far above you!" Nassana insulted since she didn't have anything else she could use against him.

"I'm no merc. I'm the Ghost. Mercs take their money and go. Me, if I don't like you, I'll put a gun to your head." Shepard replied coolly to her. Nassana had a look of shock and perhaps... a little reflection? Thinking she may have made a huge mistake? Oh yeah!

"And if you ever think of trying to kill me, I have all this data tied to my life signs. So if you try to kill me, you try to manipulate me, or anything like this again, it all goes viral. Not just the corperations and the politicians, the public too. Anywhere in Council space and the Terminus, everyone will see it. You won't be able to walk in the street without someone knowing about you." Shepard said knowing he won. Nassana knew it too if her pissed off face was anything to go by. It must be so humiliating for her, to be outwitted and trapped by a 'pathetic upstart.'

"GRR YOU BAST-" She began to to yell until Shepard cut off the comm. Shepard started laughing at the whole thing. Everyone was looking at how Shepard had handled the situation. If it had been anyone of them, they would've been raging at Nassana, and probably loose to.

"Damn Shepard, you can be cold, but ingenious at the same time!" Joker said having heard it along with the crew. Shepard could actually hear some of them clapping. Everyone of the squad looked at him either smiling or smirking at how he got Nassana.

"If I never see that bitch again, I can die a happy man." Shepard said making everyone laugh. Shepard walked out of the comm room with all the crew members giving him nods of respect or a thumbs up. Pressly was just smirking and shaking his head at how Shepard acted sometimes.

"Hey Joker, tell me when you find anything strange in this system, I'll be in my quarters." Shepard said.

"Right, and nice job putting that diplomat down." Joker said.

"She messed with the wrong guy." Shepard retorted as he made his way to his quarters. He stayed there, having a nap until Joker called him an hour later

"Shepard, I'm getting a signal from the planet below us. Looks like an automated distress beacon. I think we found our guys." Joker said over the intercom. Shepard immediately headed toward the cargo bay.

"Right, get ready to drop us down." Shepard said.

"Roger that." Joker replied. A few minutes later and the whole team was packed into the mako, dropping a few miles an hour. This time though no one was freaking out. In fact they were all serious about this one considering the circumstances. Shepard drove until he came up to wide flat area. He and everyone else could see a Grizzly tank and the beacon itself.

"Does anyone else feel like this is a trap?" Shepard asked aloud not liking the look of the place.

"Yep." Wrex admitted.

"Uh huh." Kaidan grunted.

"Sure looks like one." Garrus said.

"There is something suspicious about it." Liara responded.

"It has to be." Ashley stated.

"Mhmm" Tali added in. Okay so it wasn't just him then.

"Okay people. Be ready for anything. We're going in." Shepard said as he drove slowly toward the tank. Things were going smoothly until Shepard and Wrex felt something they were both intimately familiar with, tremors. Shepard hadn't felt any since Akuze, but he still remembered them well. For Wrex it had been longer, not since his Rite of Passage, but he could still remember that glorious fight he had won when he was so much younger.

"Oh shit." was all Shepard could say with Wrex nodding in agreement. Everyone else was confused until they all saw the ground explode a few hundred feet away. What they saw that rose out of the ground was a growling, drooling thresher maw. The quickly spit acid at them forcing Shepard to hit the thrusters and making the mako jump up. He floored it and hauled ass dodging acid spit barely until he saw the maw go back underground.

'Did it leave?' Shepard thought until something happened. One minute, he was driving great. The next, the maw had shot up from under the mako, causing it to go airborne and landing after a few flips onto the tires. Everyone was very disoriented. Wrex recovered first and noticed something.

"Where's Shepard?!" He roared out. This got everyone to look at the driver's seat. They all then noticed that driver's door was ripped off.

"Oh goddess! He must have fallen out when we were sent into the air!" Liara gasped. Everyone was thinking even Shepard couldn't have survived that. Wrex quickly got in the driver's seat and noticed that the mako was badly damaged.

"Dammit! Kaidan, Garrus, Tali! Start repairing! Ashley take the cannon controls and be ready to fire, Liara take the machine gun!" He roared out taking charge knowing that the mako was their best shot at surviving.

"Uh Wrex I don't think we have enough time." Tali said frightened.

"What?!" Wrex demanded. Tali pointed to the front window. Everyone looked and saw the maw was charging at them fast. They knew it was hopeless. With Shepard dead and the mako torn up all they could do was wait. The maw closed in with only 20 feet to go when a mass accelerator round struck the maw stopping it. Everyone looked at Ashley thinking she shot. All she did was shake her head no. That was when another round hit the maw. This time they saw the direction it came from. The maw then turned to where it had been struck and saw the Grizzly's gun pointed at it. It's top door opened up and out came Shepard. Once more he challenged the thresher maw and used his old mentor's favorite phrase.

"COME GET SOME YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Shepard roared as he fired another round hitting the maw squarely in the face. It roared in response and charged at Shepard's direction now.

"Hurry! He's bought some time. Start using omni-gel and repair this damn thing so we can help." Wrex said. Everyone else did what they could, but the damage was extensive.

"Wrex, I'm no sure it'll be repaired in time." Kaidan exclaimed. Wrex could only growl.

Meanwhile with Shepard and the maw

Shepard had fired the cannon continuously at the maw. He could see that had worn its armor down but not any big damage. The Grizzly's cannon then overheated. Knowing it wouldn't stop that maw anymore, Shepard dashed from the Grizzly using Adrenaline and combination of biotics to increase his speed. The Thresher Maw followed after him. He then used his assault rifle and unloaded everything he had until it overheated as he continued running. The maw was now getting close until something had caught its attention. It was Wrex who had ventured from the mako to help Shepard, along with Liara and Ashley. They were helping him distract the maw. He noticed Garrus, Tali and Kaidan weren't with them. He could sense Kaidan was alive in the mako. That meant those 3 were repairing it. They all continued to play cat and mouse until the mako was repaired. Kaidan drove and Garrus was back on the cannon as they attacked the maw. That was when Liara tripped when she was running. Ashley was by her side in a second and pulled her. Sadly the maw saw this and pounced towards them. The mako's rounds were ignored by the giant worm as it charged with it's jaws wide open. Wrex couldn't do anything except watch in morbid horror along with everyone else. For Shepard time seemed to slow down. As the maw closed in on 2 of his squad he could hear his heartbeat. He suddenly saw the people he couldn't protect in his life: his mother, Talitha, the innocent civilians on Elysium, the squad on Akuze, Major Kyle's squad on Torfan and the most of the colonists on Eden Prime. Then he heard a voice shout NO. The next thing that happened was incredible. Shepard was covered in a bright blue biotic aura, his eyes glowing with light making them look like to orbs of pure light. Then in a bright flash, Shepard had somehow moved from his position to the space in between the Maw and Liara and Ashley. Everyone was in shock at the speed and more put into more shock at what Shepard did next.

"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THEM!" Shepard roared and stuck his hands out and a Power Strike was made in both hands. This one was different. For one it was huge in comparison to a normal one. While a normal one was the size of a soccer ball, this one was the size of a fitness ball. The other difference is that Shepard created it almost instantly. Then Shepard did something he hadn't done before with a power strike. He shot it at the maw's mouth. From what everyone had seen, Shepard couldn't shoot a power strike. Liara was awestruck at it. What else could be done with it? Then everyone saw the damage it could cause and it terrified them.

The Super Power Strike hit the thresher maw right into its gullet. The explosion was incredibly powerful, but it did not cause the maw's head to explode, though everyone was kinda wishing it did instead of what happened. Instead obliterating its head, the attack had split the maw's mouth in different areas and burned it badly. Instead of an outright kill, it was a slow painful death for the thresher maw as it collapsed and moaned in pain. A few moments later, it died from the new devastating biotic attack of John Shepard.

Shepard's aura went off then along with the light in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he had just done to the thresher maw. Everyone was coming toward him now with questions. Unfortunately as soon as the aura went out, Shepard felt crippling pain in both of his arms.

"AAAAHHHH!" Shepard cried out, which echoed all around. The pain felt like a million needles lit on fire and having electricity surge through them embedded into his arms. Shepard could feel his muscles cramping in on themselves, almost tearing. The pain became to much and Shepard was brought to his knees. Shepard continued to shriek in pain as his team now ran to him to see what was wrong.

"Shepard what's wrong?!" Liara asked as she checked him over, but Shepard's jerking around made it difficult. Ashley tried to hold him down but she almost got hit response as Shepard writhed in pain. Kaidan tried his best to see what was wrong, but couldn't see anything.

"We need to get him to Chakwas." Kaidan said.

"I'm on it. Joker we need immediate evac and medical support. Shepard is down! I repeat, Shepard is down!" Garrus said as he radioed in the Normandy. Tali felt so helpless as she could only watch Shepard writhe in agony and listen to his tortured screams.

"I'm going to knock him out." Wrex said as he got ready. Everyone was trying to stop him until they heard Shepard speak.

"D-D-D-Do it. OHH Dear God! DO IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Was all he could say until he started screaming again. Wrex quickly moved up and knocked him out with a headbutt. Everyone was now worried as they watched Shepard still have a look of pure agony on his face.

* * *

Le gasp! What happened to Shepard? Find in the next Chapter of Mass Effect: Ghost of the Terminus.

For the guest who asked if Lis is an Ardat Yakshi; No she is not, she's Aria T'loak's daughter.

Read and Review please. I can't wait to see what happens next!


	15. Feros part 1

Recap: "D-D-D-Do it. OHH Dear God! DO IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Was all he could say until he started screaming again. Wrex quickly moved up and knocked him out with a headbutt. Everyone was now worried as they watched Shepard still have a look of pure agony on his unconscious face.

Now

Agony. Agony was the only word he could use and yet it still didn't fully describe it. Only point in the right direction of the feeling. Shepard knew he wasn't conscious. Not after the hit Wrex gave him. Even unconscious, the pain didn't stop, only eased up a little. Shepard then found himself back in his inner world, the forest on his back. He looked around and noticed something was different. Before when he was here last time, the night sky was just full of stars. Now though it had a blue crescent moon. He then noticed the difference here and home was that on Mindoir, they had 3 moons. Then he heard footsteps behind him. He quickly turned around to his mother once again.

"Mom? What the hell happened?" John asked as he got up. Hannah stared at him for moment before she answered.

"You and your friends faced a thresher maw and the 2 women, the human and asari, were almost killed. In response to your desperation to save them, your true power awoke for a brief moment." Hannah told. John looked at her strangely.

"My true power?" John asked. Hannah nodded very seriously.

"Yes. That structure that surrounds your DNA is the cause of it. Did you ever wonder the cause of it? All that power?" Hannah asked. John knew he didn't have to answer.

"All those times. Akuze, Torfan, the spar with your krogan friend. Each of those times you were under great emotional distress. This time however, was different." Hannah continued on.

"What do you mean different. Do you mean the power output?" John asked. Hannah looked as if she was considering her answer before speaking.

"Partially, but the main reason of why it's different is why it happened." Hannah explained. John raised an eyebrow at her answer. Hannah decided to elaborate seeing his questioning look.

"All the other times before this one was about you more or less. Whether it was your life, your goals, or your pride; it was about you personally. This time however, people you genuinely cared about were in danger." Hannah said making John start to realize it.

"But why more for others and not myself? You'd think self-preservation would take priority in this case." John said. Hannah looked at him with a stoic expression. From what he remembered of her, that usually meant she was a little disappointed that he didn't see something. Before he could say anything else he saw her smile a little.

"I'm a little surprised that you don't realize it. It is because of your heart, my son. The one thing I couldn't change, even if I wanted to. Your heart was always compassionate and good. Even as a baby you you always had kindness in your eyes. Your heart is what allowed you to stay as a person and not a monster who would not let anything get in his way. When it is people you know, you form a bond with them. You come to care about them, and when you see them in danger, you become under even greater emotional stress." Hannah explained smiling at his surprised expression. She was right. When he lost everything on Mindoir, he had a huge loathing for aliens thinking that they were all responsible for what happened to his home. It all changed as he traveled and trained with Zaeed. As the years went by, he visited many worlds with Zaeed to learn what was what. In doing so he learned the history of humanity, krogan, asari, turians, batarians and other species as well as the organizations that came from them. After seeing the various tragedies that all of them shared, he his hatred had lessened. When he found out that other non-human colonies were attacked by slavers, some even coming from the colonies own races, his hatred lessened and focused toward slavers in general.

"What's with the moon? Why is there only one?" John asked. Hannah looked at it for moment before answering.

"The each moon represents your true power. Currently you only managed to tap into a small part of your first level." She said.

"Then, when it becomes full, I will have completely unlocked my first level?" John said trying to figure it. Hannah smirked a little at his question.

"No, when tap into all of it, it will be a waxing gibbous. When you have full control over it, only then will it be a full moon." Hannah explained. John ahhed in understanding. It made sense, a little. Then he thought of something.

"Will I have to train to bring it out? Or will it come out on it's own?" John asked.

"It will only move forward when you tap into more and more when your emotions are pushed to extreme heights." Hannah answered.

"Why did it cause me to be in so much pain?" John asked remembering the agony he felt after killing the thresher maw.

"It is because your body wasn't ready for the strain. You briefly tapped into your first level fully for a few seconds. In that time it caused your arms' biotic nodes to go into a sort of overdrive, bringing out incredible power, but also bringing an incredible strain on your nodes as well as your arm muscles . Luckily with your genetic tailoring I had grafted into you, your body should adapt to the trauma and not be feeling that amount of pain from it anymore." Hannah explained. John was about to ask something else when the world started to fade again once more.

"It would appear that our discussion is over. Goodbye John. Promise me you want put yourself into a stressful situation like that again." Hannah said, causing John to look afraid before nodding his head fast. Hannah smiled at him. It was the last thing he saw before his vision faded to black.

Back on the Normandy, at the same time.

Shepard's squad had turned off the beacon and got him onto the Normandy as fast as they could. Even unconscious, Shepard looked to be in a lot of pain to them. As soon as they had brought him on to the Normandy, they quickly made way to the med bay. When Chakwas saw the state Shepard was in, she immediately told them put Shepard down and then ushered them all out. She then began scanning him to see what was wrong. After starting by examining his lower torso, she moved up until she got to his arms.

'His nodes have changed! There stronger now, at least a little. But they've been strained severely. The strain then caused them to actually pull his arm's muscles closer to them! What could have caused this?' Chakwas thought trying to figure out what happened. She then injected a muscle relaxer and a sedative to calm him down. For the next few minutes she watched as Shepard regained consciousness. He tiredly looked around the room until he saw Chakwas.

"How long have I been out?" He asked, voice very weak.

"An hour at most." Chakwas responded.

"Hmph at least I'm ok." Shepard said.

"How are you feeling?" Chakwas asked.

"Exhausted. A little thirsty. Maybe... high too." Shepard said looking as if he was trying to figure out how the last one happened.

"That last part is the muscle relaxer and sedative I gave you to keep you calm. Medi-gel won't help with something like that. Only time, and your fast healing, will." Chakwas said getting a little worried now. Shepard wasn't making any snide remarks about her or her room. 'It must be more serious than I thought.' She thought.

"You got any water in here?" Shepard asked dryly.

"Sure, here." Chakwas handed Shepard a cup of water from the water dispenser in the med bay.

"Thanks." Shepard greedily downed the cup in loud gulps. After a few more cups Chakwas continued.

"Shepard what caused this to happen?" She asked in a low voice.

"Check my DNA." Shepard stated, sticking his arm out. Chakwas looked at him in shock for a minute before she took a needle and extracted some of his blood. She then looked into the microscope and checked it out. Her eyes widened a little at the site. The visual she was seeing was of Shepard's DNA and the structure that surrounded it was glowing a light blue light. Similar to one biotic nodes in the body when they are active.

"What does it mean?" She asked turning to Shepard.

"I think it means... I'm changing. Or mutating." Shepard said.

"I'm might need to keep you in observation for a few days." Chakwas said thinking that this could hurt Shepard again since it did put him in her med bay. Shepard just shook his head.

"I get the feeling we don't have that kind of time." Shepard said getting up. He noticed his healing had already taken care of most of the damage. Taking the time to check out is body's condition, he noticed that he felt a little stronger and lighter. To himself at least. He then thanked Chakwas and exited the med bay where he met up with his team.

"Shepard are you okay?" Ashley asked noticing him first. Her question caught the attention of the other squad members, making them turn in his direction.

"I'm fine Ash. Just a little exhausted... and hungry to." Shepard said as he kept walking towards the kitchen, hoping to find something to sate his hunger.

"What happened out there Shepard?" Kaidan asked.

"Yes, I've never seen anything like that." Tali added in. Shepard continued to search for something until he found a banana, some peanut butter, and a loaf of bread.

"My full power surfaced for a minute." Shepard responded as he walked over to the table and began making a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

"How? I've only seen asari matriarchs move as fast. Even then there are only a few who did it and it took them years to do so. Afterwards, they were completely exhausted after one flash. You on the other hand had a lot more power." Liara said wanting to know how Shepard was able to do that stuff.

"Hmph. I haven't seen anything like it until now. That form you took was something I had only seen asari go into during meditation, but their powers didn't skyrocket like your's did nor was their biotic aura so intense. What makes you so special?" Wrex followed up. Shepard took a bite out of his sandwich and looked at Wrex confused as he chewed his food. He took on a form? Granted his vision became engulfed in biotic energy and he felt incredibly stronger, but that was all he noticed. He then swallowed as he spoke.

"Form?" Shepard asked. Wrex nodded.

"Yea. You were covered in an intense biotic aura and your eyes were glowing with a bright light. Couldn't even see your pupils." He explained. Shepard was shocked at that. He started thinking it over when he heard Garrus speak.

"What I want to know is how you did it and how did it increase your biotics to such an incredible level." Garrus said.

"Liara, are you sure there aren't any matriarchs who could do what I did?" Shepard asked, looking at her.

Liara spoke while shaking her head, "No, we didn't think of that power strike of yours. We never mentioned anything like a full biotic overdrive." Then Tali spoke up.

"Maybe humans have hidden biotic potential?" She offered up. Kaidan shook his head.

"No, if there were there would be at least one more biotic who could do what he does." Kaidan said. Shepard then spoke up.

"It's because of my DNA." Shepard said gaining their attention once more.

"Your DNA?" Garrus asked with a brow raised. Shepard looked down.

"I'm not what you would call a natural human." He said puzzling all of them. He looked up, seeing their confused faces. He elaborated.

"I'm a test tube baby. A genetically modified test tube baby. My mother created me using science and a lab." Shepard said. His explanation caused all of them to go into shock. He was genetically modified?

"That explains a lot, now that you mention it." Kaidan said after a minute. Everyone looked at Kaidan, wondering what he meant.

"What are you talking about Alenko?" Garrus asked.

"What I mean is that Shepard has always recovered from some serious injuries. I remember when I saw Shepard on Torfan. After fighting with that justicar, he looked like he was about to pass out." Kaidan said.

"Was not." Shepard said biting into his sandwich again.

"You didn't see yourself." Kaidan retorted.

"I wasn't that bad." Shepard said.

"Really? It looked like you took an epic beating." Kaidan said smirking. Shepard just shook his head no as he continued to eat.

"You were limping to your ship at the end of it." Kaidan said chuckling with Shepard.

"Yea, that was a pretty tough fight." Shepard said as he continued eating. He finally finished his sandwich as he turned to everyone.

"So your genetically modified?" Tali asked.

"Yep. To be more smarter than a salarian, have more biotic power than a asari matriarch and heal on par as well as outfight a krogan." Shepard said.

"I can attest to those last 2." Wrex said.

"What I'm not smart enough?" Shepard asked smirking.

"I haven't seen you do anything to merit it." Wrex responded jokingly.

"Look at that cryotube down below and you try to figure it out then." Shepard challenged. Wrex put his hands up.

"That is one challenge I won't do." Wrex said making everyone chuckle. That was when Joker called up.

"Hey is Shepard up yet?" Joker asked over the intercom.

"I'm right here Joker, what's up?" Shepard asked.

"Good to know your awake. I've got Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina on the comm. They say it's about your next assignment." Joker said. Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Do they know what happened?" Shepard asked.

"Uh they know you were unconscious but other than that, no. Why? Did you want me to tell them?" Joker offered.

"No, in fact I'd rather no one else know." Shepard said as he got up. He then spoke, "Tell them I'll be on in a minute."

"Right." Joker said as Shepard made his way to the comm room. When he finally entered, he turned the comm on and both Anderson and Udina's holograms appeared.

"Shepard, we heard that you might have been unconscious. What happened?" Anderson asked.

"Just an overuse of my biotics." Shepard replied smoothly. No sense in lying or telling the whole truth.

"Well in that case then, let's get to business." Udina said.

"Yes. Joker mentioned that you have my next mission?" Shepard asked expectantly. Anderson nodded.

"Yes. We've received reports of geth sightings near one of our colonies, Feros. We have not been able to contact the colony for some time now." Anderson said.

"The colony has been out of contact for around 2 days now. This could another clue to find Saren, Shepard." Udina said.

"Yea, okay. We'll head there immediately." Shepard said. Udina quickly logged off. Anderson nodded goodbye as he logged off.

"You want us to set off for Feros immediately Shepard?" Joker asked, having heard listened in on the conversation.

"No, are we still connected to the comm buoy?" Shepard asked Joker.

"Umm yes we are." Joker responded taking a look at the status.

"Can you please connect me to Admiral Kahoku, Joker?" Shepard asked.

"Sure." Joker said already knowing what Shepard was up to. A few minutes later and Kahoku's hologram came up.

"Shepard! Any news on my team?" Kahoku asked. Shepard looked down for a second before answering.

"Admiral, I'm sorry to say this but your team is dead. They ran into a thresher maw." Shepard said. Kahoku looked stunned for a minute before he spoke again.

"A thresher maw? That's not.. My men wouldn't just stumble into a thresher nest. Not the whole unit!" Kahoku said with obvious rage. Shepard could understand the admiral's feelings on this so he decided to be patient and calm with the man.

"Someone lured them there with an Alliance distress beacon. It was set perfectly right beside the the nest." Shepard said. Kahoku looked like he was now trying to compose himself. He slammed his fist into his hand as he spoke.

"Dammit. I had a bad feeling ever since my team disappeared. An Alliance beacon used as bait. My unit wiped out. But nobody seems to know anything about it." Kahoku said before sighing. He then continued, "Ghost I appreciate what you did. Now I need to do my part, the families of those marines deserve to know why they died."

"Of course I understand. If you need my help again, just call." Shepard said as he nodded to Kahoku. The line cut off shortly after that.

"Joker, get us to Feros. We need to get there fast." Shepard ordered as he walked out towards his room.

"Roger that Shepard." Joker responded as he started punching in the coordinates. Shepard decided to change his course and instead went to the cargo bay to continue his construction of the cryotube. He worked on it for a while until Tali came to help. With her help he had finally completed the cryotube. Shepard then looked over the design and made sure it was functioning right. (If you want to know what it looks like, just look up the cryotube they had in star trek: into darkness)

"Shepard how exactly do you know it's functioning?" Tali asked as he scanned over ever inch of it. Shepard had his omni-tool over it performing all types of different scans before answering.

"Well Tali that's what I'm going to check out right now. Currently I'm scanning for any coolant leaks, loose wires, out off place components, anything that should not be where it is." Shepard said as put his omni-tool away. He then began typing on the tube's interface and activated it, opening the the tube.

"Wait Shepard, you don't mean..." Tali said before Shepard nodded his head.

"Yep. I'm going to test it out. Putting it up for ten minutes." Shepard said as a timer popped up. He then turned to Tali.

"Okay if the 10 minutes go off and it doesn't open immediately hit the emergency switch right on the interface. It's the red button. If that doesn't work, break the glass." Shepard said just before he got in. The tube having built in motion and heat sensors, closed upon sensing someone entering. Everyone was now watching. Liara and Kaidan had come just in time only to see Shepard get in. Ashley, Wrex and Garrus had been watching the whole time silently. Everyone was about to say something when the tube closed on Shepard and they saw the inside freeze, frost immediately covering the glass. Everyone waited with bated breathe as the minutes rolled by. Eventually the time ran out and they waited for a few seconds.

"Is it going to open?" Ashley asked getting worried.

"I don't know." Garrus said. Tali looked like she was going to sprint towards the cryotube until everyone heard a loud click. The tube opened up and a second later Shepard flew out.

"Ahhhh, ooooohhhhhh." Shepard moaned out as he rubbed his arms for warmth, shaking uncontrollably. Everyone watched stunned at how Shepard was acting.

"Is it that bad?" Liara asked.

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah." Shepard said, teeth chattering.

"Did you sleep?" Wrex asked.

"L-L-L-L-Like a-a b-b-baby." Shepard chattered out. The cryotube worked, the only side-effect being that the subject will feel the effects of the subzero temperatures. In other words: Fucking Cold!

After an hour of recuperation, and about ten bowls of steaming hot soup, Shepard was back to normal. During that time, the Normandy was now closing in on Feros. Everyone got their gear ready, thinking all they were going to find was geth. When they walked out of the Normandy, they saw someone waving at them. They cautiously approached the man even though he wasn't threatening them. For some reason something about the man was giving Shepard an off feeling. Like there was something behind the guy. It wasn't like how he could sense biotics or electricity that's for sure.

"We saw your ship coming in. Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately." The man said.

"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked wanting to know about the guy.

"He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare for the geth. They're making another push. Please, up the stairs and pass the freighter." The man said. Shepard then sensed something coming their way, something with electricity.

"Get down!" Shepard shouted as he tackled the guy to the ground. They both were narrowly missed by a rocket hurdling over them and passed them. His squad took cover immediately and began firing. Ash and Wrex were in the front shooting every geth with their respective assault rifle/shotgun. Wrex even used warp on a few to weaken their shields. Tali supported Ash by using overload on a few in front of her, helping her take them down faster. Tali then used AI hacking on the geth in the back which then took out three other geth before being shot by reinforcements coming from the stairwell. Kaidan quickly put a barrier on himself and began shooting, taking out 2 geth hoppers before his barrier weakened to much forcing him to take cover again. Garrus provided long range assistance by sniping several troopers on the walk way that had looked up from their cover. Liara joined in by using a singularity on the remaining geth, causing everyone to fire at the floating enemies. While all of this was going on Shepard and the man had rolled to the side. Unfortunately while the rocket had missed them, one of the geth's rounds had hit the man in the shoulder scoring the subclavian artery. The man could not move his arm and was losing a lot of blood. The round had also went completely through the man's shoulder. Shepard used medi-gel, but for some reason it wasn't working as fast as it should be.

"I'm not letting you die." Shepard said as he put pressure on the wound. The man had broken into a cold sweat as he watched Shepard try to save his life. He then gently used his good hand to take Shepard's hand off the wound.

"It's fine. Go help your people... and... go... save... mine." The man said with a dying breathe. Shepard watched as the life slowly ebbed away from the man's eyes. He took his hand and gently shut the man's eyes. Remorse and guilt coursed through him like a torrent of water. Then anger surfaced. Shepard took out his HMWA, got up and did a continuous spray-and-pray sweep, finishing all the other geth in sight. Without speaking, he made his way toward the stairwell. Everyone saw this and noticed the man's body. Without saying a word they followed, knowing Shepard did not want to talk right now. As Shepard made his way up, he was attacked by 2 more geth hoppers. Without even batting an eye, he used a combination of warp and overload on them. He then took his shotgun out and quickly shot them down without stopping. Everyone was starting to get worried about Shepard. They hadn't really seen him this quiet and this deadly. It was like looking at a machine right now. That was when Kaidan realized what was going on.

'For him, it's probably like watching Mindoir all over again. He must feel connected or responsible for this in some way.' Kaidan mentally surmised. Looking over at Wrex he could see that the krogan had come to the same conclusion. Kaidan knew Wrex was smarter than others gave him credit for. Shepard didn't need to tell him that. They reached the top of the stairs and came up too a couple of colonists who were guarding the passage.

"Oh man, we thought you were geth! Hurry go speak to Fai Dan. Just go through the freighter and take a left once you exit on the other side. You'll see him." One of the group said. Shepard nodded and walked where they had pointed him towards when he looked around. He noticed his squad did the same, probably looking for various points to come across. That was when Shepard noticed something strange. The same feeling he had when he met the man in the dock had come back tenfold. This feeling though was different compared to him sensing biotic and electricity. If he had to compare the feeling of biotic and electricity, it would be with wind and static respectively. Depending on a person's ability with biotics it would be similar to the strength of wind being blown. It had no real temperature, but his body did simulate one. With Liara he would compare her aura with that of strong but gentle very cool wind. With Wrex and Kaidan it was more like a mild gust of mildly cool wind considering their not as strong with their biotics. With geth and by extension Tali, given her suit's cybernetics, it would be a more static feeling given the electricity. From a geth juggernaut to a dropship, he would compare it to a very strong static feeling that was all over him. With Tali and smaller geth, it would be a more easier static feel like you know it's there but as long as you don't pay much attention, you don't notice it. Now though there was this new feeling as if there was this heavy mist in the air and it got thicker around the people. When he had gotten to the middle of the freighter, the feeling intensified again. Whatever was causing it had to be under him right now, but he would get to it later. People needed his help now. He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard his friends talking.

"Damn, these people had it rough." Garrus said having looked around a little.

"Gotta agree with you there Garrus." Ash said, nodding her head.

"They've done well for civilians considering the firepower they've been facing." Wrex said.

"Yes. The geth have amazing technology ranging from hacking to unbridled firepower. These colonists are tough to have lasted this long." Tali said.

"I wonder how many need medical aid." Kaidan said absently. Liara could only nod along with him as they passed the med bay. As they walked past it, Shepard could see some people inside. He made a mental note to go and see if he and his team could do anything later. They kept looking around and saw a few people guarding another entrance to the colony. Shepard walked over and saw one of the people turn to him.

"Oh are you Ghost?" the man said.

"Yes." Shepard responded.

"Oh, Ghost. I'm glad they finally sent someone to help us. I'm Fai Dan." The now named Fai Dan said.

"Shepard." Shepard said shaking the man's hand. That was when a woman in light armor came up.

"You a little late aren't you?" She said accusingly.

"Arcelia!" Fai Dan scolded.

"I just got wind of this a few hours ago. If I had known sooner, I would've been here sooner too." Shepard responded. Arcelia just glared at him.

"Sorry Ghost. Everyone's on edge since-" Fai Dan said until he was cut off by geth chatter.

"Watch out! We've got geth in the tower!" Arcelia shouted. The squad turned to see a few geth in the passage.

"Protect the heart of the colony!" Fai Dan shouted. Everyone took out their preferred weapon and fired on the geth, instantly killing them. Shepard and his squad charged in killing geth left and right as they ran up the tower. A geth hopper nearly got the jump on Shepard when Ash got sight of it and shot down.

"Thanks for the save." Shepard said as he continued to shoot. Ash merely nodded back smiling, happy she got the chance to be able to help Shepard. They continued on until they arrived to an area where the geth dropship was spewing out the enemy. Everyone quickly opened fire in several directions. Tali used her AI hacking on the geth juggernaut in the middle of the room, allowing them to knock the geth off guard. Kaidan and Liara quickly used warp on 2 geth hunters who had snuck up on Wrex and Garrus and continued to battle them. Wrex took on 3 troopers at the same time. While he was doing that, 2 geth snipers had a lock on him, ready to fire. Garrus saw them and with the precision of a master marksman he got both of the snipers, making Wrex's fight easier. Shepard and Ash were tag teaming the geth that were moving in and out of cover. Ashley kept using her assault rifle on the groups of units running around while Shepard backed her up by keeping off any hunters coming up from behind. He then used singularity on several geth, following up with an overload. The result being a type of EMP field that took out the captured geth. The geth dropship was spent of units and left. The squad having killed all of the groundside geth waited for a minute until Shepard confirmed that there were no geth near them since their scanners had been blocked the whole time.

"Come on we should go tell the colonists that it's safe. For now at least." Shepard said as he walked towards the stairs. Everyone gave an affirmative as they followed him down. After a few minutes of silently walking down, Shepard realized something about his sixth sense. Earlier he wouldn't have been able to sense either Tali or any of the biotics in their group unless he was near them like within 3 meters. Now though he could detect them if they were 12 meters away. Perhaps that his full power increased his sense? Maybe. This was only partially of his full power though. If his sense had increased that much because of unlocking it partially, what would it be like if it was his full power? Shepard decided not to worry about it since it wasn't that important.

"So are we going to roll out to where the geth are bunkered?" Ash asked Shepard.

"We will soon." Shepard responded.

"What about Fai Dan and the colonists?" Liara asked.

"That's why we're walking down. I've got a plan forming in my head, but first I need to get more information on things here before we do anything." Shepard said.

"We will be getting the geth, right Shepard?" Wrex asked still wanting to fight.

"Yes but I just want to make sure things are squared away in the colony before we leave." Shepard explained.

"They should be okay now." Tali added in.

"Yea but you all saw how they were. Some were hiding while others looked exhausted while using standard weapons and equipment. On top of that the geth could be under the colony affecting multiple things that support them." Shepard said knowing the damage was more than what it looked like.

"Hmm Shepard's right. At the least we should see if they have any other problems." Garrus said, mulling over Shepard's response.

"Yea I think it would be best to check in on things. Colonies like this are more vulnerable to other dangers besides invaders." Kaidan said looking at Shepard. The man mentioned knew Kaidan meant something by that and he didn't really care that much. If his past gave him experience with this that caused others to trust his judgement, who was he to say no? They all then walked out of the tower to see the Fai Dan and the others. Fai Dan was the first to greet them.

"The tower's secure thanks to you Ghost." Fai Dan said thankful. Shepard shook his head no.

"It wasn't just me, my team's help was critical to our success." Shepard said making his squad smile a little. Shepard never took full credit when he did things with others and they were happy that he always kept them in mind. Fai Dan nodded his head.

"Yes, my apologies. You all helped us greatly. Thank you." Fai Dan said looking at the squad. Each had a reaction to it.

Wrex held his head up proud.

Liara and Tali were smiling and blushing a little at the praise.

Ash and Kaidan were both smiling at the recognition.

Garrus tried to play it cool by crossing his arms and holding his head proudly like Wrex. Shepard seeing their reactions couldn't help but smirk a little.

"I'm just glad you colony is safe." Shepard said. Fai Dan looked at him again.

"I appreciate your concern and your efforts against the geth." Fai Dan said. Then Arcelia spoke up.

"They may have been slowed, but they'll be back. They always come back." Arcelia said in a dreadful tone.

"Help me find what the geth are after and I promise my team and I will get you out of here alive." Shepard said trying to ease the woman's nerves.

"We don't know what they're after. They came, they attacked us, that's all we know." Fai Dan said.

"You know where their base of operations is?" Shepard asked.

"Their main base is at the ExoGeni headquarters. A good place to start looking if you want answers." Fai Dan informed. That got Shepard to raise an eyebrow.

"What's ExoGeni?" Shepard asked not having heard of it.

"ExoGeni is the company that most of us work for. They fund the colony. The skyway up the tower leads directly to headquarters, you can't miss it." Arcelia said.

"Of course, there's an army of geth between here and there." Fai Dan added in. Shepard sighed.

"I just knew this wouldn't be easy." He muttered.

"Then maybe I can get this colony operational again." Fai Dan said hearing him. Shepard decided to ask about the colony.

"What do you need to get this place operational again?" Shepard asked.

"We need those geth destroyed." Arcelia said. Fai Dan nodded in agreement.

"Yes Arcelia is right. We still have geth in the tunnels underground. We also have more mundane problems like food, power and water. I'm not sure where we stand on those matters though. You should ask the people overseeing them." Fai Dan said.

"Wait you have geth in the tunnels under you? What information do you have on them?" Shepard asked.

"Not much. They're in the tunnels somewhere, likely guarding a transmitter to coordinate attacks. It's not a critical threat right now, but getting rid of it will help us defend against further attacks." Fai Dan said. Something about the way he spoke rose an alarm in Shepard's head, but he ignored it for now.

"What's the problem with power supply?" Shepard asked.

"May O'Connell is working on that. She'd know more about it." Fai Dan said pointing to where they entered the colony first.

"What of the water situation?" Shepard asked wondering who was in charge of that.

"Macha Doyle had been assigned to that particular issue. If you have any insight to offer, please speak to her. She should be where May is." Fai Dan responded. Shepard nodded paying attention to every detail.

"And the food situation?" Shepard asked again.

"Davin Reynolds is tasked with securing food for the immediate future. If you can assist, speak to him. He is in the freighter at the end of it." Fai Dan explained. Shepard nodded having gotten it all down.

"What can you say about the geth base's defenses?" Shepard asked.

"I don't have any details, but I'd wager it's more defended and fortified than a command post." Fai Dan said before Arcelia added in.

"They landed at least one geth ship at ExoGeni and I've seen large walking tanks on the skyway. Expect a hard fight." She said. Shepard thought everything over until he spoke up.

"You do know that's their plan right?" Shepard asked the 2. Everyone was looking at him confused.

"What do you mean?" Fai Dan asked.

"While one of those problems is no big threat, combined and coupled with the main geth force, it's merely a strategy to kill what's left of you." Shepard said shocking everyone. Arcelia got angry at him.

"Of course it is! We already know that!" She yelled at him.

"No you don't understand." Shepard said coldly, silencing her. He then continued, "In cutting off your water and food supplies, the geth have effectively made you all have a fixed number of supplies, making what defenders you have start to weaken from hunger and dehydrated which stunts them in fighting. In taking out the power they have ensured that what sensors and automated defenses you have left are turned off. Finally with the geth in the tunnels able to coordinate attacks, they made it possible for the other geth to know where to enter and attack. Not only that it provides the geth the ability to possibly drill under you all and come out in the middle of you colony." Shepard explained causing the 2 colonist to go wide eyed at the implications. Shepard's squad was stunned at his insight at it all and how much it made sense.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, scary." Wrex said with everyone else nodding in agreement.

"Please you have to take those geth in the tunnels out at least. Please!" Fai Dan said a little more frantic now.

"Don't worry. We are. Everyone go talk to the people Dan here mentioned and comeback once you have the information on things." Shepard told. His squad nodded and went to collecting everything. Shepard waited outside the tower until everyone came back.

"What did you find out?"

"The colonist can hunt varren after the geth are wiped out. Even then though the alpha varren is out there so it makes it more difficult. Trust me I know what they mean." Wrex said having spoken to Reynolds.

"Okay, what else?" Shepard asked.

"We need to find some power cells on this planet, possible an old grizzly's or a mako's power cells to power the colony's generator." Tali said having talked to May O'Connell and thinking of what could be used for the generator. Shepard nodded.

"Alright good. What about the water supply?" Shepard said. Liara spoke this time.

"The geth have turned off the water valves in the tunnels. For the water to flow, they must be switched on." Shepard nodded thinking it over.

"And then there is the geth's main force." Kaidan said. Shepard thought it all over quietly.

"That means we will need 3 teams. One to deal with the main base, and the other 2 to deal with the problems here. That means the one team will have 3 while the other teams will consist of 2 each." Garrus said. Then Shepard spoke up.

"Or 2 teams consisting of 3 each and a team of 1." He said.

"Shepard what are you talking about?" Tali asked.

"Look I know what I'm about to say is a little unorthodox-" Shepard said until Wrex cut him off.

"It's not unorthodox, it's suicide." Wrex said having realized what Shepard was going to say.

"What do you mean Wrex?" Liara and Tali asked at the same time.

"He means that Shepard is planning to go alone." Kaidan answered. This caused everyone to look at Shepard who nodded in response.

"No it is suicide!" Ash said not wanting things to be like this. Shepard then quieted them down.

"Look all those tasks will require ingenuity and power as well as multiple people. This colony also needs more better equipped and trained defenders. And I can't be in multiple places at once, but I can slip into a heavy defended base." Shepard reasoned. He then looked around and noticed that Fai Dan and Arcelia were a ways away from them out of ear shot. Shepard then leaned toward everyone. Seeing this, they too leaned in a little.

"Also when we entered this colony, I sensed something abnormal. It was different from biotics or electricity and the most abnormal part was it was concentrated around the colonists and the middle of the freighter. I want you all to figure out what's going on here." Shepard said. Having traveled with Shepard for awhile now they took his word for it. They themselves noticed some abnormal behavior in a few of the colonists but didn't think to much of it. Now though...

"Also keep you helmets on, just in case. This thing feels like a mist so it may be an airborne type of something." Everyone nodded except Tali who just stared at Shepard. Shepard noticed and couldn't help but rub the back of his head and apologize.

"Sorry Tali. Anyway the teams are going to be as such. Team 1: the girls, team 2: the guys." Shepard said. Before anyone could question it he explained why, "The reason being is because this organization makes balanced teams." At their confused expressions he explained a little more clearly.

"Each of the girls have developed into one particular set off skills. The guys on the other hand have gone into a mix of 2 each. Think of it like this, Tali tech skills can only be matched by a combination of both Kaidan's and Garrus'. Ash's is matched by Wrex and Garrus' skills when it comes to weaponry. Liara is matched by Kaidan and Wrex in the biotics department. That doesn't mean either of your teams is superior though, but equal." Shepard explained. Everyone thought it over and noticed he was right.

"Wait Shepard what about you?" Ashley asked. Shepard looked down for a bit before he looked at them seriously.

"Not to sound arrogant, but I think I equal both of your teams. You all saw how I took on Wrex back on the Normandy and that was me holding back a lot. Granted Wrex did to but not as much. Sorry Wrex but if it was a real death match, I would have killed you." Shepard said.

"I noticed that, but don't think it means I wouldn't have gone down easily if I didn't hold back." Wrex said grinning a little.

"Oh I know. I was counting on that." Shepard said smiling. Shepard then turned his attention to everyone.

"Okay Wrex and Ashley are the leaders. Any complaints?" Shepard spoke. No one made a sound.

"Okay then, be careful." Shepard said as he and everyone else made their way into the tower. Shepard separated from everyone else. As he continued to gain a further difference from them he felt something he hadn't felt since he and Zaeed parted ways a long time ago, loss. Not the kind when someone special dies, but when people whose company you enjoy suddenly leave and you are all alone. He couldn't help but smirk a little at himself.

'Mom was right, my heart does care to much.' Shepard thought as he arrived into the garage and found a mako. He entered it and began to turn it on.

"Isaac think you can control the turrent?" Shepard asked.

"Ohhhh yeeeeaaaaahhh." Isaac said happy he could finally shoot something for a change. Shepard smiled as Isaac took control of the mako's cannon and turrent. The garage door opened up and he gased the accelerator out.

* * *

So yeah, here we go. Read and Review please! Hope you enjoyed it!


	16. Feros part 2

Okay first things first. Thank you for making me have a new personal record on views and visitors in a single day! Also for the guest(s) who asked those 2 questions, 3 things.

1) Thank you for making a review

2) About the case with the Thorian, you'll find out soon enough.

3) Miranda and Shepard would only be genetically modified humans. That is their only connection, besides I did say it was earlier data and results. What I meant by that was that the data wasn't completed until Hannah Shepard deleted it before leaving the base. Plus I like to think of Henry Lawson as a very arrogant man, so he decided to take a once over on the data and then trashed it, taking only basic parts from it. Unlike Shepard, Miranda is still created by one brand of genetics, not two like my Shepard in this story.

I hope that answers your questions clear enough. If not, then please post another question in the reviews, I always check. That said... ENJOY!

* * *

Recap: "Ohhhh yeeeeaaaaahhh." Isaac said happy he could finally shoot something for a change. Shepard smiled as Isaac took control of the mako's cannon and turrent. The garage door opened up and he gased the accelerator out.

Now

As he exited, a geth ship moved out of cover and began deploying ground units on the skyway. Shepard drove forward with Isaac aiming the cannon at any and all geth. Shepard drove over all the geth troopers while Isaac fired at the armatures. As he continued to make his way on the skyway his radio came to life with someone's voice.

"The last batch went south. What are they looking for?" The radio cackled out.

"Who could that be?" Shepard asked.

"No clue. The signal's too weak to pinpoint." Isaac said as kept firing on the armatures. After taking them out, Isaac caught more chatter.

"Hey Shepard. There's more going on now. Still can't find their location. I'll try to boost the signal." Isaac said. A few seconds later the radio cackled again.

"Any sign of movement? Lizbeth could still be in there. It's only been a few days." the feminine voice said. Shepard kept trying to figure out what was going on until it continued.

"She's my daughter. I'll wait as long as I have to." Okay now Shepard knew there had to be some survivors up ahead further down. He and Isaac came across mor geth armatures and attacked. The armatures merely slowed the duo down as they continued to ride up the skyway. After getting past the armatures, they came up to a garage. Shepard waited for the door to open. And waited... and waited.

"Shepard I think the door's out." Isaac stated. Shepard nodded.

"Yea and I doubt the mako's cannon can do anything to it either." Shepard said as he exited the vehicle.

"Shepard! There could be geth hiding around!" Isaac said a little more emotionally.

"Then keep a lookout with the mako while I hack the door." Shepard responded with is omni-tool out. As soon as he reached the door, he began to hack the controls. The firewalls were nothing really. Unfortunately, Shepard had to figure out a way to link different circuits together. That was when several geth troopers had started coming up. Isaac noticed and firing the turrent only for more geth to come up, this time it was Destroyers. Isaac noticed that the destroyers were keeping a close proximity to each other.

'Probably for higher intelligence.' he surmised. The mako's turrent wouldn't be able to take them out fast enough, but maybe... Isaac fired the cannon right in the middle of the group. The mass accelerator round caused a splash effect, damaging most of the geth. Isaac then used the turrent on the remaining ones, finishing them off.

"Nice one Isaac!" Shepard congratulated as he finally got the door operational again.

"Thanks Shepard, now get in." Isaac said. Shepard quickly got in and began driving as the door opened up.

"We've got movement. Some kind of vehicle. Not one of the geth." The radio crackled again. Shepard knew if they could track him now, that meant they were close by. He stopped and looked around, noticing the ramp leading out. Right beside it seemed like some sort of smaller ramp leading downwards. He exited the mako, took out his sniper and looked down the ramp to see people, survivors of some sort behind barricades.

'Well time to meet these people. Let's hope they're friendly.' Shepard mentally thought as he walked down the ramp, switching to his assault rifle. If these people were hostile and had numbers, he was going to need some rapid fire weapon. As he almost reached the people's line of sight he started thinking about his team and what they were doing.

Back with the team at the same time

As Shepard had gone up to the garage, his team went down to the tunnels. When Shepard split off from the group, Tali and Liara felt a little out of place, as did Ashley.

"So who's doing what?" Ashley asked Wrex realizing Shepard only made teams, but didn't assign anything specific. Wrex hmmed a little before answering.

"My team will deal with the geth, while your's deal with the other 3 things." Wrex said.

"Why can't we do both together?" Ashley asked, not liking being left out of the action.

"Because Shepard was right. Those colonists are barely standing as it is. This plan allows us to multitask. Even though both are teams are balanced out, your is more composed of thinkers while mine is more composed of fighters. We will continue down until you find something that can help the colonists. That's when we split from each other." Wrex said.

"So when my team finds something.." Ash said.

"My team will be a distraction basically. We keep the geth occupied while your team finds what's needed." Wrex said.

"And when we finish, we join up with you." Ash finished nodding at the plan.

"Or the other way around." Wrex added. Ashley nodded in approval. She then turned to Tali.

"Tali I need you to keep a constant scanning signal to find those power cells. Can you do that?" Ashley asked.

"Yes don't worry we'll have them soon." Tali said as she took out her omni-tool and began scanning for any power signatures. Ashley then turned toward Liara.

"Liara, did the colonists give you any schematics of these tunnels to find those water valves?" Ashley asked. Liara nodded taking out her omni-tool and pulling the schematics.

"Yes, but it looks the valves are further down. Likely guarded by geth." Liara said. Then Wrex chimed in.

"Don't forget, if you see the alpha varren, kill it. That will allow the colonists to hunt after we kick the geth out." Wrex said.

"Any idea of what it looks like?" Ashley asked not having seen an alpha varren before.

"An alpha varren is a bit bigger than normal varren and more red tinted." Wrex said. Ashley nodded. With that everyone traveled down the tunnels together. When they turned into one of the side tunnels they were assaulted by geth. Thinking quickly Wrex used warp on the one that took cover and started firing with his shotgun. Kaidan followed up with a singularity holding 3 geth. Ashley took advantage and used her assault rifle on the captured group. Garrus took note of 2 snipers and used his marksmanship to the best of it's ability and knocked their lights out. Tali used overload on a trooper and then pelted it with her shotgun rounds. When the geth were destroyed Liara took her schematics out and noticed something.

"There should be a valve right around here." She said aloud looking for one. Tali also looked around while everyone else was making sure there were no geth coming there way from the other side. Tali then noticed something that looked like a terminal.

"Is this it?" Tali asked pointing at it. Liara looked at and noticed it was exactly where it was on the map.

"Yes." Liara said as she moved and began to activate it. After pressing a few keys on it, another screen slide out from under it and then a loud thud sounded out.

"Okay it's activated, but we need to find 2 more." Tali said. Liara looked at her schematics again.

"According to this, if we just follow the pipeline down we should find the next 2 valves." Liara then looked down to see where everyone else had taken cover and were peaking out for any geth. She and Tali walked to them and looked at what Ashley was crouching next to.

"Ashley, I think you're right beside the next water valve." Tali said. Ashley looked at them confused until she looked to her left. Right in front of her was another screen, just like the one earlier.

"I'm guessing that's what a water valve looks like?" Ashley said rhetorically. Liara nodded.

"Yes, we need to switch it on." Tali moved in front of it and began typing until the second screen popped up and another loud thud was heard.

"There, that only leaves one more." Tali said. Everyone nodded and began to make their way up before Kaidan spoke up.

"Wait." he whispered out.

"What you hear something Alenko?" Garrus asked.

"No remember what Shepard said? We should probably wear our helmets now." Kaidan said taking his out and putting it on.

"Right." Garrus said remembering now and following Kaidan's example. Everyone else followed suit except Tali cause she... you know. Everyone then continued up until Tali spoke up.

"Hey wait a minute. I'm detecting 2 power signatures. One's to our left, it's small but closer. The other's to our right and larger, further down there." She said. Everyone looked at the ways she pointed and noticed 2 functioning doors.

"I'd wager the geth are with the bigger one." Kaidan said.

"And the power cells needed could be the smaller one." Garrus added.

"Okay, we'll take the bigger one and you take the smaller one." Wrex said as he made his way towards the right.

"Okay. When we finish up here we'll get back to you as fast as we can." Ashley said.

"Right." Wrex responded. Kaidan and Garrus quickly followed. Ashley, Tali and Liara then turned towards the left and walked through. What they found was a large room.

'Probably a storage facility before the geth caved it in.' Ashley thought with her weapon drawn. Tali had her shotgun out and Liara had the pistol out. As soon as they walked a couple feet in, something growled at them.

'Okay that was no geth.' The group thought. Then Liara saw a shadow move and lunge in Ashley's direction. Quickly moving she pulled Ashley to her and what landed where Ashley was previously stood a varren. Tali quickly shot it and killed it. Ashley saw what could have taken her head and nearly killed her.

"Thanks Liara."

"It's no trouble. You might have done the same." Liara responded. Ashley got up and quickly ran out with rifle out and saw 3 varren charging at her. She quickly used a spray-in-pray on them, killing one and seriously wounding the other 2. Tali and Liara joined in by using carnage and warp, killing the other 2 varren that almost got Ashley. They then joined up to see another 2 come running at them and quickly overwhelmed them with bullets. After they were dead, they thought they were safe.

"So that was fun." Ashley said sarcastically.

"Really? I thought it was terrifying." Liara retorted, panting a little.

"She wasn't serious Liara." Tali said a little energetic. Before Liara could say anything back, a loud growl echoed throughout the room. Instantly they all huddled back to back, guns up and looking all around. Then Ashley spotted it.

"It's the alpha!" She shouted and started shooting. Liara and Tali both saw it and used Lift combined with Carnage on it. Ashley completely unloaded on it and finally when the lift ended, the varren fell down, riddled with bullet holes.

"Okay, that's one thing down." Ashley said. Liara only nodded. Tali nodded when her omni-tool beeped. She looked at it and noticed that the power cells were close. She then noticed that the signature was coming from the overturned mako near the exit. She quickly walked up to it and began searching for the compartment where the power cells are usually stored.

"Tali what are you doing with that mako?" Ashley asked watching her. Liara looked on with peaked interest.

"The power cells we're looking for are in here." Tali said as she found the panel and began to take out the power cells. Ashley watched for a minute before she spoke.

"So um... What do you think about Shepard?" Ash asked blushing a little. The whole area got real quiet. Tali looked at Ashley in shock and Liara looked very embarrassed. Ash herself now had a full blush.

"Um I-I think he's kind and uh smart." Tali said wringing her fingers nervously.

"He's v-very i-interesting. And a-a l-little h-h-handsome." Liara stuttered out.

"Yea and he's a pretty good leader, given his past." Ashley said rubbing her the back of her head nervously. Damn this is awkward.

"More could be said about him, I think." Liara said poking her fingers together.

"He's brave, modest, and fun to be around." Tali said with a little more confidence.

"He always listens and he has..." Ashley was about to say until she stopped herself. Her head looked like a cherry now.

"Has a great what, Ashley?" Tali asked. Liara was now staring at Ashley. She was having a hard time seeing how red humans could turn.

"I umm I said h-he... has a great ass." Ashley whispered out, but they still heard it.

"Yeah." Both Liara and Tali said dreamily until they realized what happened. They were all speechless for a few minutes until Ash tried to move the conversation over. (Okay that whole scene was painful. If any of you got anything better. Please send it over.)

"Tali, did you get the power cells?" Ash asked after clearing her throat.

"Umm y-yea." Tali said in embarrassment. They all then exited and made their way over to where the guys were.

With the guy team at the same time

Wrex and company made their way over to where the larger signature was. As soon as they entered, 2 geth troopers were right in front of them. Wrex used his shotgun on the left one and Kaidan took out the right one with a warp and his pistol. After the relatively quick skirmish they continued on silently until Garrus heard something.

"You hear that?" he asked. Wrex and Kaidan both stopped and listened.

"It sounds like." Kaidan said.

"Drones." Wrex finished. Garrus looked behind and saw 2 geth drones drop from above. He quickly used overload on them, disabling their shields and ducked out of the way while Kaidan and Wrex both shot the drones, finishing them.

"Good ears, Vakarian." Wrex said.

"Thanks." Garrus responded. Kaidan nodded at the byplay. Soon enough they began to walk forward and found the geth transmitter. They also found 3 krogan warriors and 2 geth hunters. Moving quickly, Garrus sniped one of the geth hunters. Kaidan shot the other geth hunter down with a shot from his pistol while he used warp on one of the warriors. Wrex ran at one of the warriors and quickly headbutted the guy in the face knocking him down. Wrex then took his shotgun and fired it in the krogan's face 5 times, killing him quickly. Kaidan took his krogan on with a throw causing the krogan to slow down. Kaidan then followed it up by shooting the krogan in both knee caps. He then took an upgraded grenade and threw it right next to the downed krogan. Garrus was having a little trouble with the krogan he was facing. He managed to score a point blank sniper shot to the face, but with krogan regeneration and the fact this one was keeping close, it was proving to be a little challenging. The other 2 saw this and decided to help out. Kaidan used Neural Shock to paralyze the warrior while Wrex used warp to damage his armor. Garrus quickly shot the krogan dead upon seeing this.

"Okay, what's next?" Garrus asked. Wrex merely pointed his shotgun at the geth transmitter. He was about to fire when Kaidan grabbed his hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaidan asked.

"Destroying the transmitter." Wrex replied.

"You destroy it like that, for all the geth in these tunnels will swarm us for sure." Kaidan said.

"He could be right." Garrus added in as he watched the entrance from where they came from.

"Okay then what do you think we should do?" Wrex asked annoyed. Kaidan looked to where Garrus was.

"Garrus I'm going to need some help. Wrex take Garrus' place for now." Kaidan said. They both did as they were told. Wrex watched the entrance while Kaidan and Garrus worked on the transmitter. After successfully shutting down, they rigged it with grenades. All linked to a switch. Both walked back over to Wrex and handed him the switch.

"Wanna do the honors?" Kaidan said.

"Hell yea." Wrex said as he pressed the button. The transmitter exploded, completely destroyed.

"Okay now let's go help the others out." Wrex said as they exited.

Both groups walked out at the same time.

"You finished?" Ash asked.

"Yep, you get the power cells?" Wrex asked nodding.

"We got them, plus we killed the alpha varren." Ash said smirking a bit.

"Good that means we're almost done." Garrus said.

"Yes all we need is to unlock the last valve and we can go back." Liara said. Kaidan nodded.

"Yea hopefully Shepard will be back by then." he said.

"What's wrong Kaidan? You miss him?" Tali said teasingly. Kaidan looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"No Tali I'm just worried. Unlike all of you, I've met Shepard twice before he was on Eden Prime. I know he's strong, but I also know that he's had to face a lot of things alone." Kaidan said making everyone look down at the ground. Even Wrex was a little worried. He Confidence in Shepard, but if Shepard is forced to take that form again, the results could be bad. This time though, he might not have anyone to help him. Wrex looked and noticed everyone was worrying a little now.

"While you are right Alenko, it's out of our hands now. All we can do now is hope Shepard comes back in one piece." Wrex said. Everyone else looked at him and nodded. Whether they knew it or not, Shepard had become someone important to them.

"AAAHHH OHH YAH!" a scream sounded out. Everyone looked in the direction it came from and ran to it. They entered another side tunnel and came face to face with more geth. Luckily, in taking out the transmitter, these geth were a little more reckless. They didn't last long as they attacked them in perfect synchronization. They then exited the tunnel and found someone.

"Why are you here?" The guy growled out.

"We're here to help." Ashley said.

"Who? Us or the- OWWWW!" The guy tried to say until he jolted in pain holding his head.

"Ughh That was a good one very intense." The guy said as it looked like he was talking to someone.

"What's the matter with you?" Kaidan asked.

"Just invoking the master's whip. Help's remind me I'm still alive. You're here for the geth aren't you? You're not the only one interested in those things." The man said.

"Who else is looking for the geth?" Tali asked. The guy shook his head.

"Not looking for, looking to get rid of. They're a thorn in the side of the- YAHHHH! Trying to get to the- yehh! yhgghhahaha." The guy said until something caused him great pain.

"Maybe we should kill him?" Wrex said unsure.

"I've thought about that several times. I'd rather die fighting." The man said.

"We can help you told us what your're fighting." Liara said out of concern.

"Not that kind of fighting. It's like running through a thorn bush. The more you struggle- times up, company's coming. Ask Fai Dan, ask him about the-AAAAAHHHHHHWWWW!" The then feel to his knees in pain, holding his head. Everyone turned around and saw some more geth. The quickly fire and destroyed the 2 in front of them.

"We can't help him now. We need to get back to the colony." Wrex said as he began to enter the side tunnel out, only to find more geth. Everyone fought until the made enough to all get inside it. They then continued to use whatever skills they had that helped. Eventually the geth lost and were dead. Everyone filed out as fast as they could until Liara saw something.

"Tali look it's the last valve! Help me turn it on!" Liara shouted. They both quickly turned it on as fast as they could.

"There that did it! The system is active." Tali said.

"That's great, now let's go!" Ashley shouted back. They all ran to the exit, thinking more geth could pop up any minute. After a minute they made it outside and into the the colony. Everyone was panting hard. Even Wrex was doing a great impression of Darth Vader for a minute. (haha)

"Okay, *huff* we should all *huff* go tell *huff* everyone what we did *huff*." Kaidan said.

"You're *huff* right." Ash said as she started moving to where Reynolds was.

"Okay *huff*." Liara said as she made her way to Macha Doyle.

"They should be in raised spirits now *huff*" Tali said as she went to where O'Connell was. Wrex and Garrus both sat down for a bit while Kaidan went to talk to Fai Dan.

"Excuse me. We finished off the geth in those tunnels." Kaidan said.

"Oh thank you. It should prove invaluable." Fai Dan said.

"No problem." Kaidan said smiling. Wrex then walked to where Tali and Liara were while Garrus walked towards Kaidan. Then Kaidan noticed something about Fai Dan. The guy suddenly began to look as if he was in pain.

"Hey are you o-" Kaidan asked as he was cut off.

"I'm sorry!" Fai Dan shouted out as he fell down to the ground. The next thing Kaidan knew someone hit him in the back of the head with a blunt object and he was out. Garrus looked to who hit Kaidan. It was Arcelia!

"What the hell are you-!" Garrus said before he dodged the attack. He was then tackled by something that came out of nowhere.

'What the fuck!' Garrus thought before the thing knocked him out. Back with Ashley, Reynolds jumped at her and she quickly knocked him out.

'What's going on?!' She thought as she saw something knock Garrus out. Then the thing came at her. She quickly gunned it down.

'What the hell is that thing?!' She thought. Then something hit her in the back of the head and she knew no more.

Wrex saw what happened and was attacked from behind one of the creatures that just attacked Ashley. 2 more jumped on him and eventually began to overwhelm him.

"What are these things?!" Wrex shouted as he fell down. Tali was quickly knocked out by a colonist. Liara used her biotics on the colonists that attacked and then she felt something with claws hit her right in the back of the head.

'Shepard... help us.' Was Liara's last conscious thought.

Back with Shepard, Where and when we left him (I know, bit of a bad move.)

Shepard had just got into their view when of them shouted.

"That's close enough!" A man wearing a scientist uniform said. Shepard noticed that there were more people wearing either work clothes or armor. Some had weapons too... pointed at him.

"Relax Jeong. They're obviously not geth." The woman beside the man said.

"Get back Juliana." the now named Jeong snapped at Juliana. Jeong then set his sights back on Shepard.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Jeong demanded. There was something in the man's tone that grated on Shepard's nerves.

"My name's Shepard and I'm the Ghost of the Terminus. I suggest you put that weapon down unless you're prepared to use it." Shepard stated in an annoyed tone. Before Jeong could make a comeback, Juliana spoke.

"Don't worry about him. He only cares about the 'company'." Juliana said smirking a little.

"Who says I was worried?" Shepard responded smirking right back, showing everyone that he didn't consider Jeong a threat.

"And you trust to easily, Juliana." Jeong growled out.

"I'm just glad to see another friendly face. I thought we were the only humans left on this planet." Juliana retorted. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her answer. They didn't know.

"Fai Dan along with some of the colonists at Zhu's Hope are still alive." Shepard said. Juliana turned to Jeong in anger.

"I thought you said they were all dead." she accused. Jeong looked back at her not flinching a bit.

"I said they were 'probably' all dead." Jeong defended himself. Something about the guy reminded Shepard about the people who ran numbers for the gangs back on Omega. Not as dangerous, but just as slimy and dirty.

"Despite being under assault by the geth, they have survived. That colony is well defended. Especially now that my team is there helping get it back on it's feet and fighting alongside them." Shepard said watching their reactions.

"We know what that's like. Those damn synthetics are relentless." Juliana replied. Shepard nodded while looking around. He had to admit, the area was an easily defensible position, if a little small.

"I'll do what I can, but I need more information to help." Shepard said.

"What kind of information?" Jeong asked, eyes squinting at Shepard with suspicion.

"Ignore him. The geth are at the ExoGeni Headquarters. Take them out over there." Juliana said.

"Those headquarters are private property, mercenary. Remove the geth and nothing else." Jeong said. Shepard looked coldly at him.

"If they don't have a connection to slavers or anything that is putting people in danger, I couldn't care less about your company's secrets." Shepard replied. He noticed Jeong looked frightened for moment.

"Shepard before you go... my daughter, Lizbeth. She's missing-" Juliana said before Jeong cut in.

"He shouldn't waste time poking around. We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the geth are gone." Jeong said. Juliana looked as if she was going to explode at Jeong until Shepard beat her to it. He biotically lifted Jeong into the air and brought Jeong over to him. He then had his omni-blade out and at Jeong's neck.

"Listen well because I will only say this once: No one wants to listen to you. You may try to write people off as numbers and other things, but I can't. She can't. Perhaps everyone here can't either. And the only reason that you still have your tongue attached and not on the ground, is because I am allowing it. So Shut Your Mouth!" Shepard snarled at the guy. He then dropped him and Jeong scurried off. Shepard then turned to Juliana.

"Where is she?" Shepard said.

"She was hiding in the ExoGeni building." Juliana informed getting out of her shock.

"Oh yeah! There are several places she could hide... for a short time." Jeong said sarcastically. Shepard then shot an omni-bolt out of his omni-bow right by Jeong's head.

"What did I say?" Shepard asked coldly. Jeong just stayed quiet. Shepard nodded and said, "Good boy."

"If she's in there, I'll get her out." Shepard said.

"Thank you Ghost. Thank you." Juliana said gratefully. Shepard nodded and began to walk out when another scientist approached him.

"Excuse me?" the scientist asked.

"Yes?" Shepard said.

"I was hoping to speak with you. I have a bit of a problem." the man said.

"Who's asking?" Shepard asked wondering who this person was.

"Dr. Gavin Hossle." the scientist said.

"What do you need?" Shepard asked.

"I need to retrieve some data. It's not a big job, but it pays well." Hossle said

"I'm listening." Shepard said.

"Good, good. Poking around the ruins has become a little too dangerous for me." Hossle said. Shepard nodded.

"All you need to do is find my console at ExoGeni headquarters and drop the data onto this OSD. It's that simple." Hossle explained, handing over the OSD.

"You're real quick to trust me on this." Shepard stated.

"Have you seen anyone else heading to ExoGeni lately?" Hossle asked in a smug tone.

"Fair enough." Shepard said as he left. He then walked back to the mako and entered it. As soon as the door closed Isaac spoke again.

"That guy was a dick."

"Completely." Shepard agreed as he started driving again. Shepard then drove up the rode until he came to another garage door.

"Well here we go again." Shepard said.

"Yep, I got the cannon ready to go." Isaac said.

"Awesome." Shepard replied back as he gased it again. Right out of the gate, he saw a geth fortification. Isaac quickly fired a cannon, the splash affect destroying any geth near the impact zone. There was also an armature firing at them. While the round hadn't hit it dead on, it was still damaged. Shepard used the mako's thrusters to jump up and as soon as they landed, Isaac fired again, destroying the armature. Shepard then continued to drive until he picked up radio chatter.

"You owe us for this. The skyway is dangerous right now."

"Package is secure and ready for transport."

'What the hell?' Shepard thought. He quickly tracked the signal and found it's location. If he found it so easily, the geth definitely did too. He then drove further to find them. As he approached the radio cackled again.

"Wait! Shut down the comm, we've got incoming geth! Damn it shut down the comm!"

He drove as fast as he could and could see that the geth were entering some kind of tunnel built into the skyway. Shepard hurried and exited the mako after parking right beside the entrance. As soon as he approached, he saw a corpse laying right in the passage. Shepard noticed multiple exit wounds on the guy.

'Poor bastard didn't even have half a chance.' Shepard thought silently. Shepard closed his eyes and sensed 2 geth inside. He quietly took out his shotgun and walked in. He felt one geth was to his left the other was in a side tunnel running under the passage entrance. He quickly turned to his right, aimed below and fired right at the hidden geth, instantly killing it. The next geth having noticed the shot, jumped out of cover only to be hit by an overload and then shot by a shotgun round. Shepard then walked to where the next corpse was and found a locked container of some kind. He hacked through it easily and found what looked to be a data drive. Shepard then looked over it and found it to be blueprints for a cryogenic technology. After looking over it Shepard noticed somethings that could help negate the side effects of his cryotube. He pocketed it and got back to the mako. Shepard then continued on to the ExoGeni Headquarters. As he finally parked at the entrance he noticed some geth moving around the room inside. Isaac saw them too and fired right inside, destroying them. Shepard then exited the mako and entered the building, where 2 more geth tried to ambush him. They only got a warp and 2 pistol shots for their trouble. Shepard then noticed a energy field of some sort.

"If that's like the barrier curtain I faced on Therum, than we won't get passed that." Shepard said.

"Yes, you're right. Hey there's a locked door over there." Isaac said seeing the door. Shepard hacked through and walked in. As soon as he entered another area which was blocked off, he noticed a dormant armature. Moving quickly he threw a High Explosive grenade on it. Within seconds the armature was destroyed before it could even get up. Shepard went back and noticed a passage way the went down.

"Looks like a one way trip, Shepard." Isaac observed.

"Yeah. Oh well." Shepard said as he jumped down. He took out his sniper and looked down the hall, only to see and area covered in water, and loose wires hanging from the ceiling.

'Great, as if I had enough to worry about.' Shepard thought as he rolled his eyes. He then switched to his rifle as he crept down the hall and stopped the end and looked over the side. The only thing that had him worried was the varren corpse.

'Someone, or something killed that varren. Chances are it could still be here.' Shepard thought as he looked around for any sign of life. None yet. He then walked down to inspect the corpse when he saw movement and a shot rang out. Some girl had sot at him.

"Dammit, I'm sorry I thought you were the geth, or one of those varren." the girl said. Shepard noticed she was wearing an employee's uniform.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Shepard asked, ignoring the shot and her apologies.

"It's not my fault, I stayed back here to backup data while everyone ran. Then the geth ship latched on and the power went out. I was trapped. I tried to get out, but the way was blocked." the girl explained.

"Don't worry, I'll find us a way out when I find what the geth are after and I kick them out." Shepard said.

"It's not the geth, it's the energy field they put up. They don't want anyone else getting access to the-" The girl said until she stopped herself.

"The what?" Shepard asked a little more firmly.

"I don't know for certain, but I think they're here for the Thorian." the girl relented. Shepard rose an eyebrow at her.

"I've never heard of that. What is it?" Shepard asked.

"It's an indigenous life-form. ExoGeni was studying it." she replied.

"What else can you tell me about it?" Shepard asked.

"I can't do that, not with those geth lurking around. Look, we need to get out of here, past that field." she said a little more antsy now.

"Okay, but later you're telling me everything. Any ideas?" Shepard said.

"The geth have been laying power cables connected to their ship all over the place. You could follow those, but there's geth all over the place." She said.

"What do you know about the Thorian?" Shepard asked.

"I really don't know much, I think it's some kind of plant being. I know it's very hold. Thousands of years even." She said. Shepard could tell she was lying.

"Why would the geth be interested in the Thorian?" Shepard asked.

"It's just a plant, I don't know why the geth would care. ExoGeni was studying it, but I don't think they found anything special." the girl said.

"Tell me about yourself." Shepard said. The girl looked bewildered for a moment.

"Me? I'm just a research assistant for ExoGeni. I came her with my mother. I don't even know if she made it out alive." The girl said looking saddened at the last part. Shepard realized that this girl might be Lizbeth.

"She's with some others from the colony. She's safe for now." Shepard said. Lizbeth looked at him hopeful.

"She's safe? Thank god. Please, just get that field down so I can go see my mother again." Lizbeth pleaded.

"Fine I'll go see if I can open some doors." Shepard said.

"Wait, take my ID, it should get you passed any locked doors." Shepard knew she had been lying earlier. Anyone with an ID that clearance on any door in a company had to be extremely high up, part of a team possibly. Shepard took it and walked towards the other end where the door was. Unfortunately, varren came rushing at him from some unknown spot. Fortunately he had his rifle out so they were finished quickly. He then unlocked the door and came to a flight of stairs. He silently walked up them listening and looking for any movement. He then heard someone.

"Stupid machine! Access encrypted files." the person, sounding like a krogan, said. He walked up until he found the he did he could hear the krogan arguing with something.

"No I don't want to review protocol!"

Shepard could see the krogan was mad. "Arrgh! Tell me what I want to know before I blow your virtual ass into actual dust!" The krogan threatened.

"If you want access you are going to want to either make an appointment or get security access level 4-" The VI said.

"Stupid Machine!" The krogan yelled at it.

"They're just the worse aren't they?" Shepard asked, right beside the krogan now, with his shotgun out.

"Yea they are- wait a minute!" The krogan turned to see who was talking to him only to meet a shotgun barrel right in the face.

*bang* The krogan fell down with a thud. Shepard looked at the VI.

"ExoGeni employees are reminded that the discharge of weapons while on company property is strictly forbidden." The VI before it continued, "Welcome back, Research Assistant Elizabeth Baynham." The VI said. Shepard wasn't in the least bit shocked.

"What was the last user attempting to access?" Shepard asked.

"Fetching data. The previous user was attempting to access details on the study of Subject Species 37, the Thorian." Shepard grew more serious.

"What information is on it?" Shepard asked.

"Aside from lacking proper access, there is no new data on Species 37. All sensors monitoring the observation post at Zhu's Hope have been inactive for several cycles." The VI replied, startling Shepard.

'That can't be good.' Shepard thought, then spoke, "What does Zhu's Hope have to do with the Thorian?" He asked hoping he was wrong.

"Species 37 is located within the substructure of the Zhu's Hope outpost." The VI replied. Shepard was now getting nervous for his team now.

"Tell me everything you know about the Thorian." Shepard demanded.

"The Thorian is a simple plant life-form that exhibits a sentient behavior uncommon among other flora. Through dispersion and the eventual inhalation of spores, it can infect and control other organisms, including humans. The Zhu's Hope control group has yielded interesting results. Before sensors went offline, almost 85% of all test subjects were infected." The Vi informed.

'That's what I felt back at the outpost! Oh dear god, I left my team there!' Shepard was now very concerned about things.

"Are you saying ExoGeni knew about this?" Shepard asked through gritted teeth.

"It was deemed necessary to assess the true potential of Species 37."

"Don't feed me that garbage!" Shepard shouted.

"Shepard it might be best to contact Joker now." Isaac suggested.

"Your right." Shepard said as he turned on his comm link.

"Joker you there? Damn I'm being blocked. We need to get rid of the field then head straight back to Zhu's Hope." Shepard.

"I agree." Isaac said. Shepard then turned his attention back to the VI.

"What can you tell me about the field?" Shepard asked.

"All sensors are offline. Power fluctuations detected, but am unable to determine the source." The VI replied.

"Then I guess I have to bust my way out." Shepard said as he left. Shepard turned and walked left and down the resulting hallway. He then continued down and up the stairs as he saw the geth ship's attachments. He fired at the 2 geth that seemed to be praying near some type of orb.

"Great, the power is coming from the ship." Isaac said.

"Any ideas?" Shepard asked.

"We should probably try to find any weaknesses in the hooks themselves." Isaac said.

"Yea maybe find something that can detach it from our side." Shepard commented nodded at it. Shepard then jumped down and walked through the next hallway, passed charred corpses. He then came onto a group of geth troopers where he threw his assault rifle into the air while going into an adrenaline rush mixed with biotics to quicken himself, used overload on the one to his left, a warp on the one to his right, performed a singularity on the other 3 in the middle. He then grabbed his shotgun with his right hand, grabbed his pistol with his left and used each weapon to kill the geth on each side. Dropping both weapons, he caught his rifle and barraged the trapped geth. For a minute Shepard was speechless at what he just did as his world sped up again.

"Shepard that was incredible! You never did anything like that before." Isaac said surprised.

"I know." Shepard said a little in shock. It was almost instinctual when he did it. He then noticed that he was on the other side of the energy field. Quickly picking up his weapons and attaching them back on their holsters, he took the left way and came across 3 krogan. He instantly took out 3 grenades and threw at each krogan. When the krogan saw Shepard they executed a battle roar. Unfortunately for them, the grenades Shepard threw went down their throats and into their stomachs. Shepard saw this and hit the explosive button. The end result: the room was covered in gore. Luckily Shepard got to cover fast enough. He then went over to the console and downloaded what Hossle wanted. Shepard backtracked quickly coming up to a another flight of stairs. He moved up it in no time and eventually came to a big room full of geth. He quickly dual wielded his rifle and pistol, taking them all out fast. After the massacre, he noticed the room had several hooks, many cables, and a lot of geth terminals.

'This has to be it.' Shepard thought as he moved to the other side of the room.

"Shepard let me hack that terminal." Isaac suddenly said. Shepard looked at the terminal.

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"If ExoGeni was experimenting on the people here..." Isaac said.

"They could be doing it elsewhere too." Shepard finished. He quickly let Isaac hack it.

"Shepard they did it to another colony with different samples of something else. It's been out of contact for a while. I've got the coordinates." Isaac said. Shepard nodded as he walked up the stairs near them. Shepard went to other side and saw even more geth. He quickly took out several grenades and threw them in different directions toward the geth he could sense. He then set them off, killing whatever geth were near. Shepard moved down with his shotgun and a geth destroyer attacked him. Thinking quickly, he used a combo of overload and warp, then quickly blasted it in flashlight part of it's head, ending it.

"Shepard that geth terminal looks hackable." Isaac said. Shepard quickly let Isaac into the terminal.

"Shepard, the geth are amassing a force somewhere in the Armstrong Nebula. You'll need to warn the Alliance. Also check that other terminal beside us." Isaac said. Shepard quickly did as Isaac instructed. One minute later Isaac talked again.

"Hmmm a group called Cerberus? They had more samples delivered to the Matano System. You might want to check things out there." Great one thing after another. Shepard then looked at the claws that were holding on when he saw something.

'That panel could dislodge it but what could force it...' Shepard thought as he looked around. He then saw a console that seemed to control pressure of some kind. He then walked over to it and fiddled with it until...

*screech, crash.*

Shepard looked behind to see one of the claws dislodge and with it the whole geth ship. The whole room shook as the thing down along with a crash.

"The energy should be down now." Isaac said. Then the radio crackled to life.

"I repeat, Normandy to shore party. Are you reading? Anyone there? Normandy to shore party. Come on, anyone, talk to me!" Joker's voice spoke out.

"Joker what's wrong?" Shepard asked.

"We're in lockdown here, Shepard. Something happened to the colonists. They're banging on the hull, trying to claw their way inside the ship. They're freaking out!" Joker reported.

"They can't do any real damage. Just sit tight." Shepard said calmly.

"Uh... yea. Okay. Well, we'll just wait right here for you Shepard." Joker said.

"Did anyone else from the ground team enter the Normandy Joker?" Shepard asked as he made his way out.

"Uhh no. No one did." Joker responded. Shepard almost stopped walking, but kept going. His fears had come true, his team was taken.

"Okay, I'll get things sorted out." Shepard said as he turned off the comm. He quickly began to run towards the exit. He then met up with Lizbeth.

"There you are! We should leave now. I don't think this place is safe." Lizbeth said.

"You lied about the Thorian." Shepard.

"I was afraid. They threatened me when I came forward about it. Told me I'd become one of the subjects. When the geth attacked, I tried to get a message out but the power went out before I could send it. I-I never meant for this to happen." Lizbeth said.

"Get in the mako." Shepard said as they ran to it. When they got in Shepard quickly started driving back to where Juliana and Jeong were, thinking that maybe they could help.

"I really am sorry." Lizbeth said softly. Shepard saw the sad expression on her face.

"Fine, you did what you could, but you need to tell me where it is." Shepard said.

"It's under the outpost. When the geth attacked, the colonists covered it with the freighter just before it happened." Lizbeth said

"By would the geth be after the Thorian?" Shepard asked.

"It does have mind control capabilities. That was what ExoGeni was looking into." Lizbeth said. Then Joker's voice came on the mako's radio.

"Normandy to shore party. Come in."

"I'm listening." Shepard responded.

"The geth seemed to have deactivated completely Shepard, but the colonists are still going insane."

"I deal with it, trust me. Thanks for the update." Shepard said.

"Right, Joker out." Shepard then kept on driving until he got wind of Juliana's signal.

"-anybody. Is there anybody picking this up?"

"Get away from that radio!" The line cut.

"What was that all about?" Lizbeth asked.

"I'm not sure, but it can't be good Shepard said as they kept nearing the scientists. Then radio signaled again.

"This Juliana Baynham of Feros Colony, can anyone help us?"

"That's my mom! Stop the rover!" Lizbeth said. Shepard stopped and she got out. He quickly jumped out after her and both went down to see what was going on. As soon as they Jeong and Juliana, Shepard both made them kneel down, out of sight and he quieted Lizbeth down and told her to watch and wait.

"You can't do this Jeong!" Juliana said

"Everybody shut up! Let me think." Jeong shouted out.

"You won't get away with this Jeong." Juliana said back.

"Get her out of her!" Jeong shouted and security grabbed her. Lizbeth then ran right in saying "Get away from her you son of a bitch!"

"Lizbeth!" Juliana shouted as she got out of the guard's grasp and hugged her daughter.

"Damn it! Come out where I can see you!" Jeong shouted towards Shepard. Shepard calmly walked out.

"Hah, Shepard. Damn it! I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you. I found some interesting facts in the ExoGeni database about you. I knew a war hero would be terrible here. I know what happened on Akuze and I know what you did on Torfan. This doesn't have to end like eother of them." Jeong said.

"What do you think your doing?" Shepard asked.

"Communications opened back up and now ExoGeni wants this place cleansed." Jeong said.

"You can't just repurpose us Jeong!" Lizbeth said.

"It's not just you. There's something here far more valuable than a few colonists." Jeong said.

"Are going to tell them, or should I? You know about the Thorian?" Shepard said.

"Thorian?" Juliana asked.

"It's a telepathic life-form living under the outpost. It's taking control of the colonists there. ExoGeni knew all along!" Lizbeth said.

"You're not getting away with this!" Juliana said.

"So you keep saying, but nobody's going to miss a few colonists." Jeong coldly said. That was the last straw. Shepard pointed his pistol at Jeong.

"This ends now with you!" Shepard said.

"That's the way it's gotta be come on!" Jeong said as he pointed his pistol at Shepard. Shepard then pulled the trigger and Jeong was dead. The security were about to attack Shepard when he looked coldly back at them with his omni-tools out and a biotic aura manifesting around him. They deflated pretty quick. Shepard then turned to the mother and daughter.

"I'll kill the Thorian, then get you to safety." Shepard said.

"The colonists won't let you near the Thorian. They'd die first. They're under its control." Juliana said.

"I'll find a way to break it's control then." Shepard said.

"A nerve agent could help paralyze them! Like a gas grenade!" Lizbeth said.

"That'll help." Shepard said. Lizbeth nodded and asked to have his grenades. Shepard handed them over. A few minutes later and his grenades were now outfitted with anti-thorian gas upgrades. Shepard clipped his grenade belt back on, along with a breather helmet so he doesn't get infected.

'Hold on guys. I'm coming for you.' Shepard thought ready to stop the Thorian and save his friends.

* * *

Well what do you?

Good?

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In the middle?

Read and Review! Hope you enjoyed it!


	17. Feros Conclusion

Recap: 'Hold on guys. I'm coming for you.' Shepard thought ready to stop the Thorian and save his friends.

Now

Shepard checked his grenades. The number was at 10. That was the amount he could carry. The amount of chances he had to knock the colonists out. He then remembered something. He quickly approached Dr. Gavin Hossle. Hossle noticed Shepard approaching.

"Any luck finding my workstation out in the ruins?" Hossle asked.

"I managed to find the data and transfer it to your OSD." Shepard said as he tossed the OSD to Hossle who lunged for it.

"Excellent news, thank you." Hossle said.

"Well, I need to get going." Shepard said. Hossle nodded.

"Good luck Shepard. Here. Just in case you manage to find more grenades in the colony." Hossle said as he handed more Thorian gas mods. Shepard nodded in thanks as he moved to the mako. Shepard then checked his helmet for any leaks so the spores would not get in. He then entered the mako and began driving. As Shepard drove down the skyway, he thought of various questions. Is his team okay? Will he have to fight them like the colonists? What can the Thorian do?

"Shepard, I think it's best if you come up with a plan." Isaac said.

"Yea, I got one forming in my head right now." Shepard responded.

"Want to tell me what it is?" Isaac asked. Shepard was about to say something when he noticed they were coming up to the entrance to the colony. Shepard stopped at the door and waited for it to open.

"What the hell?" Shepard said aloud.

"I think we might have to hack the door." Isaac said. Shepard got out and noticed something. That something was curled up into a ball right in front of the door.

"What the fuck is that?" Shepard asked Isaac.

"I..I don't know." Isaac said completely bewildered.

"Well let's just get the door open." Shepard said as he made his way over to the door until he suddenly stopped when he sensed something about the thing.

"Shepard what's wrong?" Isaac asked, noticing Shepard stopping.

"Remember when I said that I felt something similar to a mist covering the colony and it was heavier around the colonists?" Shepard asked as he slowly turned to the thing.

"Uh yea, you were sensing the spores right?" Isaac said.

"Yea, and this thing feels like the mist except it's more heavier, condensed. Like it's completely made out of it." Shepard said as he kept his eyes on it.

"Yea but for all we know it could be a flower or some-" Isaac said until he was cut-off.

**"Ooohhh."** Shepard watched as the thing unwrapped itself and stood up, showing to be some kind plantlike creature similar to a husk, but without the wires. The thing then looked at him and attacked. Shepard dodged, but decided not to hit back. Instead he thought it best to watch and study it's movements.

'So this thing has no ranged attacks.' Shepard thought as it swiped at him. He then heard Isaac's voice in his helmet.

"Shepard, I've analyzed this creature's biology. It's very susceptible to fire, shredder rounds and the neural shock." Isaac said.

"Thanks, but I'll watch a little more." Shepard said before he kicked the thing. The thing... the creeper got back and swung its arm harder this time.

'1... 2... 3!' Shepard mentally counted before dodging. 3 seconds was the time limit before it swung its arm. The creeper began to swing another attack at Shepard once more, but this time Shepard caught the attack and held on. The creeper used its other arm and the result was the same. Then the creeper opened its mouth.

'Is it going to speak?' Shepard mentally thought to himself. He was proven wrong when the creeper suddenly barfed this disgusting green goo all over him.

'AWW DAMMIT! Come on!' Shepard mentally yelled out.

"Shepard this stuff is acidic! It's ignoring your armor's shields." Isaac informed.

'Okay I can't let these things get to close, they don't have any real ranged attacks. They obviously aren't smart enough to adapt when fighting someone. Now, is the Thorian watching or not?' Shepard mentally thought out. This was a new enemy who might have had something watching through its eyes. The creeper then ran at Shepard who sidestepped it putting his hand behind his back. Before the creeper could turn around, its head exploded. As its corpse fell to the ground, Shepard was revealed holding his shotgun with one hand. He then stared at the corpse waiting to see if it could move in its condition. Luckily it didn't. Shepard quickly took off his helmet and ran to the edge off the skyway before throwing up. His head was pounding and he was nauseous.

"Isaac what's wrong with me?" Shepard asked Isaac since he had never been sick since he had arrived on Omega. Shepard's omni-tools lit up since since his helmet was off.

"That vomit from the creeper was toxic. Since this is your first time going up against this stuff, it is going to make you sick." Isaac informed. Shepard then started to feel better and his headache went away.

"Did my genetic tailoring adapt to it that quickly?" Shepard asked aloud. He wasn't expecting Isaac to answer this time, so he was surprised a little.

"Partially. It's mostly due to the medical exoskeleton you grafted into your armor." Isaac said. Shepard then thought of the things that upgrade could do. There was a very fast application of potent medi-gel, it also help replenish his fatigue levels to use his abilities more and then there was... a very high toxin resistance. So that was what helped. Shepard got back up and walked over to the garage door. Shepard then used his sixth sense to feel what was on the other side. He felt more of those creepers just right at the door.

"Great, I'll need to adjust my plan for those things." Shepard said.

"Want to fill me in on it?" Isaac said.

"Yea it could help." Shepard said before he filled Isaac in on things as he began switching all of his guns' rounds to shredder rounds.

With the Thorian.

The Old Growth had spent thousands of years alive. It had been here before the so called protheans. When they landed, it studied them. Curious about them, it sat and waited until one of them came close enough into its cloud of spores. The prothean was then enthralled and was used to lure others to the Thorian who would also share the thrall's fate. For a few thousand years it had worked until... they came. Those colossal machines attacked and wiped out all of the protheans, including its thralls. It tried to use the other protheans that machines allowed to live, but for some reason the spores didn't work. Eventually the Old Growth fell into a deep sleep and waited for those blasted machines to be gone. It slept peacefully until something woke it up. A new race, different from the protheans had arrived. The Old Growth watched until it took control of a few of them. Life was peaceful until that fleshling came into its domain. It should have just destroyed him, but unfortunately he came with the cold ones, the ones they call geth.

They talked and bargained. When things were done, the fleshling betrayed it. He ordered the geth to destroy it's thralls and then it. It used its tools to the best it could, losing many. When it believed that its time was coming to an end, they came. A band of fleshlings of different races. The one who led them was after the fleshling Saren and the geth. The Thorian, seeing its opportunity, commanded the thralls to help in anyway possible. The Thorian watched as the band helped the its thralls. First by pushing the geth back, by getting rid of them and finally helping get the thrall's community a chance to survive. That was when the Old Growth decided to keep them all. When the leader separated from the group, the Old Growth would've struck if the leader hadn't been going to wipe out the geth. The Old Growth couldn't see that far, but was sure the leader would succeed, but die in the process.

So the Old Growth turned its attention towards the group and listened for their progress. It couldn't see anything until the group came upon one of the more strong willed thralls. To prevent discovery, it caused the fleshling great pain and made the group believe that he was crazy. The Old Growth lost sight of them for a short while before they reentered the thrall's home. It listened as they confirmed what the thrall's needed to survive. Pleased by the outcome it had its thralls strike. It had been pleased when 2 of its thralls managed to knock out 2 of the team. It then sent its 'children' to bring the group to it. The Old Growth had been surprised when the others hadn't gone down as quick. Almost as if they had been expecting it. But that was obviously impossible, no being could sense its control over its thralls without some kind of scanner. They hadn't expected the children since they fell after that. The Old Growth then had the group brought to its inner chamber. Incredible tools such as these need to be kept close, and recreated over and over again. It would take time, but it seemed to have that when one of its thralls watched the geth ship fall. The group members were placed in pods so they could be enthralled quickly, so to replenish its numbers. The Old Growth couldn't control them yet, but it was connected to see their memories. In the big one, it saw a world that the Old Growth would never want to be. A world with no water and predators. It could see recent memories of the leader and other creatures. In the one that was like Saren it could see a place full of other fleshlings. It could sense the creatures frustration and see what had caused it. With human male, the Old Growth saw the looks of a space station full of only his species. The memories turned to where he and the leader were facing some of their enemies, protecting the defenseless. The memories then turned once more to a more bloody battle involving the leader. It then switched to the females. The Old Growth could see that they were thinking of people that were close to them. The one thing it noticed was that each of the group's memories involved the leader in some way. For easier enthrallment, the Old Growth put each of them in a state of euphoria. Making their inner desires come true in a sense. Their perfect world. Next the Old Growth sent out the children to secure the area and protect its thralls as well as itself in its chamber. Some time later it felt a disturbance near one of the children further out.

The Old Growth tuned in only to see the leader. So he had survived. It commanded the child to attack and bring him for enthrallment. The Old Growth was surprised by how easily the leader avoided the attacks. Granted the human female and the krogan had either gunned one of them down or needed more than one to finish it, but still. The leader wasn't attacking, merely dodging almost as if... he was studying it. So that's what he was up. The Old Growth thought the child had him when the child poured its life essence on the leader, only to be shocked as the leader shrugged it off and quickly killed the child. The Old Growth saw that the leader was now a threat and directed its thralls to defend. The Old Growth could feel the emotions of the group and looked in to see what they saw.

Wrex was in a world where the krogan had been cured of the genophage. Shepard had nudged Wrex back into leading the krogan towards a brighter tomorrow and Wrex eventually gave into it. The krogan were now welcomed back into the galactic community with open arms and he was the one who led them to it.

Garrus was now one of the most respected turians in the galaxy, leading his own special forces to take in dangerous criminals. He kept true to Shepard's creed of not harming people and getting them out when they fell into the crossfire.

Kaidan had become part of the Alliance Brass. He had tracked Rahna down and got to know her again. Over the years, they dated until he finally popped the question and she said yes. The years passed and the happy couple had 2 kids together. As Kaidan turned around he saw Shepard in an Admiral's uniform along with Ashley and the rest of the Normandy crew including Wrex, Tali, Garrus and Liara for the reunion.

Ashley was in a world where she had cleared her grandfather's name and made the Williams' family a more respectable name in the Alliance forces. Shepard had quit being the Ghost of the Terminus and had become an Admiral in record time almost on par with Admiral Hackett. Shepard and her had been dating for over a 2 years now and he had finally asked her to marry him.

Liara was in her own world where Shepard had managed to talk down her mother into helping them defeat Saren. Afterwards she and Shepard spent the time to get to know each other better over the years. When it all culminated in their wedding to them having children.

Tali found herself in a world where she and Shepard had gotten together after defeating Saren and the Geth. Shepard then spent the next few years helping the Quarian people take down the Geth and retake Rannoch. Shepard and her eventually settled down on Rannoch after finding a way to allow the Quarians to live outside of their suits.

The Old Growth watched this with mild interest as it waited for the leader to come.

Back with Shepard and Isaac

"Seriously? You want to go in like that?" Isaac asked skeptically.

"Yep." Shepard said as he put the mako into a remote control state with his omni-tool. He had the mako fire a mass accelerator round at the garage door, weakening it. Shepard then played ACDC: Shoot To Thrill on the mako's radio.

"This is a song meant for a mako." Shepard said as he moved the mako back and then charged it toward the garage door.

On the other side

The 4 colonists had been compelled to guard the garage and waited silently for Shepard to enter. That was when they heard a pretty awesome song. This in turn made the creepers right by the door to wake up and look around. Then the sound of tires screeching sounded out and suddenly the door exploded in fire and debris with a mako flying through it all, running over the creepers fast. The mako crashed into the other side and the song then started to sound like a broken record at EEEE sound until it died out. The colonists both looked at it in confusion when they heard a metallic ping in between them. Looking down they saw a grenade. It exploded in a green mist that knocked them out.

Behind them Shepard had uncloaked himself smiling a little. His helmet back on he started talking to Isaac as he made his way to the elevator.

"And you were skeptical." Shepard accused lightly.

"Yea yea." Isaac responded.

"Hey did you find out how many colonists are here?" Shepard asked wondering how many people needed to be saved.

"If nothing happened to them while we were away, 16." Isaac said.

"That was 4 we took out so that leaves 12 then." Shepard said as he put his tactical cloak back on as he entered the elevator. He pushed the button for down, grabbed a grenade and quickly hung on the ceiling as it descended. The elevator stopped and as soon as the doors opened, 2 colonists were revealed having been waiting for it and fired as soon as the doors opened. After overheating their weapons they saw that the elevator appeared to be empty and cautiously entered it. When they did that Shepard dropped the grenade and swung out of the elevator. The elevator doors closed on the colonists as the grenade went off, knocking them out.

'That leaves 10.' Shepard mentally thought out.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap." Isaac said.

"Thanks." Shepard whispered as he snuck down the stairwell with his cloak still on. He then looked over the corner and could see the entrance to the colony as well as 4 more colonists and a creeper. Shepard then snuck to the left before he threw another grenade in the middle. The colonists couldn't dodge in time before they got knocked out. What made Shepard interested was when the creeper was caught in the blast. It withered and degraded instantly.

'Thank you Baynhams!' Shepard thanked silently as he continued on. As he snuck around he mentally counted out how many colonists and grenades he had.

'Okay that was 4 colonists, reducing the number to 6. I used 3 grenades out of 10, that leaves 7.' Shepard thought until he saw another colonist. He quickly threw a grenade at her, knocking her out. That was when Shepard heard more footsteps headed in his direction and then his cloak ran out.

'Shit!' Shepard mentally cursed. He quickly took out his pistol and a grenade when he saw 5 creepers running in his direction now that he was visible. Quickly throwing the grenade between him and the group he then pointed his pistol before he set the grenade off. The explosion killed 4 of the creepers, leaving one alive before Shepard used his pistol to correct that. The creeper was given a headshot, instantly killing it. Shepard then stuck to cover as he looked over to where the rest of the colonists were. He could see the remaining 6 in groups of 2. Luckily there weren't anymore creepers around for the moment. Shepard took out 3 grenades, putting each of them in between his fingers, linked them all to a switch in his hand before throwing them at the groups in one throw. As soon as he saw each grenade land on the ground, he hit the switch. He could see the colonists were down and out. Shepard then walked forward to the controls for the ship, having figured out that the biggest sense was thorian. He easily hacked the controls and managed to get the machine to lift the section of the ship, revealing the passage to the Thorian's inner sanctum.

'That's all the colonists, but that leaves me with 3 grenades left.' Shepard mentally went over. He then heard someone slowly approaching him from the side. He quickly drew his pistol and looked over to saw Fai Dan lifting a pistol from the ground. Shepard noticed that guy was fighting it, but it was taking a toll on the poor man if his pained expression was anything to go by.

"I tried to fight it, but it gets in your head. You can't imagine the pain." Fai Dan said with the pistol in his hand.

"What did you do with my team?" Shepard asked evenly.

"The creature made us attack and knock them out. Those things dragged them inside there." Fai Dan gasped out pointing to the passage. He then looked over at the knocked out colonists in sadness.

"I was supposed to be their leader. These people trusted me." He continued.

"What happened here was not your fault." Shepard said with his own Master HMWP pointed at Fai Dan.

"It wants me to stop you... but I... I won't" Fai Dan said as he took the pistol and pointed at Shepard. Fai Dan then pointed the pistol to his head.

"I WON'T!" Fai Dan roared out. Shepard didn't hesitate as he shot the pistol out of Fai Dan's hand and threw a grenade at the man's feet. The grenade exploded, causing Fai Dan to be knocked out. Before he drifted off into unconsciousness he pointed towards a crate near the controls.

"Grenades..." was all he said as he went out. Shepard moved toward the crate, opened it to find it was stocked with grenades. He took out 8 and modified them with anti-thorian gas before he headed down the passageway.

A few minutes later

Shepard had not run into any enemies yet as he went down into the sanctum. But he took out his Master HMWA and didn't dare lower his guard one bit. The feeling of the Thorian's spores had increased drastically as he continued down. On the colony it was like a mist, but in here it might as well have been the air itself. As he continued making his way he knew he was almost there. He could feel the Thorian itself. It was practically the mist solidified. When he made it to a wide open area he saw more and more vines. He began looking for the Thorian's main body which wasn't hard to find. Shepard saw the bulb figure and what looked to be tentacle like vines of what looked to be a mouth. If that didn't convince him, it was the fact that what looked to be saliva was flowing out of it.

"That is one ugly plant." Shepard said aloud.

"You can say that again." Isaac said in mild disgust. Shepard then felt something that seemed to be a mix of the mist feeling and a biotic feeling. The Thorian then made some hacking sounds causing Shepard to back, thinking it might throw up. Instead of puke though, an asari came out. Shepard would have asked if she was fine if he didn't think she was a creation of the Thorian. The fact that her skin was green and she looked mad at him told him he was right.

"Invader! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig and decompose." the asari said.

"Well that's not very nice." Shepard said in fake tone.

"I speak for the Old Growth as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe." The asari said. Shepard didn't answer, or bother to hear the Thorian's little monologue as he tried to sense where his team was at. Even in this place he could still feel the subtle differences. All of the team's biotics were together and if the static feel near it was any indication, that meant Tali was with them! Hopefully that meant they were all grouped together. Knowing where his team was, he looked at the asari in fornt of him.

"You gave something to Saren. Something I'm going to need." Shepard said.

"Saren sought knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the Long Cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. Flesh fairly given! The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies! It will listen no more!" the asari said.

"I won't let you keep your thralls. Release them and my team, or I will kill you." Shepard growled out.

"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry. Your lives are short, but have gone too long." The asari said before Shepard used a throw on her knocking her down into the abyss.

"Bad move." Shepard said as he ran to the left. He kept moving and weaving by creepers, gunning them down until he came upon a node. Shepard fired at it until it exploded. The Thorian groaned, or screamed, in response.

'That must be important.' Shepard thought. He was about to continue when he felt something near the Thorian.

'So it can make more than one of those. Of course.' Shepard thought having identified it as another asari clone. He then ran up the stairs near him coming up to a room that had 7 creepers in it along with the clone.

'How did she get up here so fast?!' Shepard thought as he switched to his Master HMWSG and began firing. The asari came up to him and he used throw on her once again, knocking into the chasm. Shepard then turned his attention to the remaining creepers, finished them off and attacked the next node. Shepard then moved on to the next level above him, fighting through more creepers. Shepard switched to his pistol and grabbed a grenade when he felt a large number of creepers coming up. When he finally found the third node, it was surrounded by 12 creepers and another asari clone. He used Neural Shock on the asari clone and threw the grenade in the middle of the creeper group. The explosion took out 7 of the creepers. Shepard managed to grab another grenade before one the creepers got too close. Shepard noticed that it was about to use that vomit ability on him and used that to his advantage. He took the grenade and tossed it into the creeper's mouth and kicked it back to the creeper group. He hit the switch causing the grenade to go off killing the rest of the group. Shepard noticed the Shock wearing off on asari clone and quickly fired on her right in the head. Shepard then turned his attention to the node. He took out his rifle and dual wielded both weapons on the node, destroying it.

Shepard then moved on to the next level, after putting the pistol away. Finding less enemies than the other rooms and seeing the gap going down to the abyss, Shepard used his biotics on the creepers and tossed them off the level. A new asari clone jumped at him. He quickly threw his rifle into the air, took his omni-blades out and scissored her head off. Without stopping, Shepard caught his rifle, destroyed the fourth node and went up some stairs. This time he got mobbed by several creepers on the way up. He dropped a grenade which covered him and the creepers in a green mist upon explosion. The creepers withered in the cloud as Shepard moved on. He came to what had to be the final node. The creepers and another asari clone jumped him. In retaliation he used a biotic field repulse which either crushed them or sent them off into the abyss. Shepard then walked to the node, noticing that all of his team were on this level. He got a little worried when he noticed they were all contained in some kind of pod. Thinking that killing the Thorian would free them, Shepard aimed his rifle at the node when something used pull on him.

'What the hell?!' Shepard thought as he was pulled away. Something then used throw on him sending him into the wall. As he fell to his knees trying to get up, he looked at what had done that to him. His eyes widened in shock as he saw 3 asari clones in front of him.

'How? Wait when I knocked them off the levels, 2 of them must have grabbed onto a ledge or tendril. The other must be newly created.' Shepard thought as 2 of the clones levitated him into the air. The third grabbed his head, her eyes went black and Shepard knew what was coming.

"Embrace Enthrallment." The asari clone whispered. Shepard's view went black for a second. He then found himself waking up in a hammock.

'What the...' Shepard thought as he got up and looked around. He found himself on Mindoir in civilian clothing.

"There you are John. Talia has been wondering where you are." Shepard heard a voice from behind he quickly looked around to see Liselle.

"Lis? Who's Talia?" Shepard asked confused. Liselle looked at him confused.

"Who's Talia? She's our daughter silly! Come on, everyone but you is there! You can't miss your daughter's birthday party." Liselle said as she took his hand. She then led him to where everything was. As he came up to a house he saw everyone there. He saw Aria, Chun, Isaac in his hologram form, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, Liara and Talitha. Even Anderson and Joker were there and then he saw... his mom. She was smiling at everything. Then he saw Talia. She was a beautiful asari 2 year old who looked like her mother, but had his deep blue eyes. Shepard waited until everyone sang happy birthday to Talia as the little toddler clapped and blew out her birthday candles. He then left the yard to see the meadow that the house overlooked. The sun was setting and it was all tranquil. He was then approached by his mother.

"So when are you going to tell me it's all fake?" Shepard asked coldly as he looked at the visage of his mother. She looked confused at him for a moment.

"Fake? None of this is fake John." Hannah said.

"Really? Then how are you alive? How did I meet Lis and everyone else if you didn't die? Besides, I'd never allow Chun to come to a 2 year old's birthday party. So tell me, Thorian." Shepard demanded. Hannah looked shocked until she looked down. The house and everyone in it vanished. They were both in the middle of the forest now, back in his inner world. The sun had disappeared and the moon had come out, it was still in its blue crescent form. Shepard could see the fake's cruel smile as black veins appeared on her face. She looked up at him with pitch black eyes. Faster than he could move, the fake's hands were latched tightly around his neck.

"Your not going to win!" Shepard struggled out as he tried to get out of the strangle hold. He struggled for a few minutes but the grip was too tight. He looked at the fake and noticed she wasn't smiling anymore. He then looked at the moon and wished he had the strength to break this hold. He then looked back at her and grabbed her hand.

"Mom!" Shepard called out. Then a great biotic light exploded from under them and enveloped them. Hannah then let him down and he walked over and hugged her.

'This is impossible!' The Thorian thought as it watched the whole scene. The whole area seemed to crack. None of them noticed the moon change into a first quarter.

"I'm doing fine mom. I'm still keeping myself safe and eating right. Can't say I stay out of trouble though. It really seems to like me for some reason. I've made a lot of worthwhile friends too. I'm still getting by somehow. So don't worry about me." Shepard said as he looked at his mom with heavy emotion in his eyes.

'He's breaking free of my direct enthrallment! How can he have such power?!' The Thorian thought as it wrestled to stay in control.

"It's time for me to go, everyone's waiting for me. Listen to me mom... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you back then, but I've always wanted to tell you... thank you mom... for protecting me." Shepard said as Hannah looked up, eyes back to normal and smiling at him. She then disappeared and Shepard's vision went pure white.

Shepard then saw that asari clones were still holding him. He quickly used a mini biotic repulse to knock them off their feet. He grabbed another grenade and dropped it as the clones got up and pounced him. The grenade went off and the gas caused the clones to suffocate from it. They then turned gray and began to rot.

'That's different.' Shepard thought as he turned toward the node and made a power strike. He then ran it and made a direct hit, instantly destroying it. The Thorian screamed as its support structure weakened and collapsed under its weight, causing it to fall into the chasm below. The pods containing his crew ripped open letting one of them tumble out. Shepard noticed each of them looking around as if they were confused. Shepard realized immediately that they had been under the Enthrallment thing.

"Hey guys." Shepard said. They all looked at him and wondered what happened to him. He was caked in green goo, had scrapes and marks all over his armor.

"Shepard what happened?" Kaidan asked.

"You all were nearly enslaved by a 10s of thousands year old sentient plant and I saved you." Shepard informed.

"So it was all a dream?" Ashley asked disappointed.

"It was all part of its enthrallment. Put you into a world that you believe is perfect for the least amount of resistance." Shepard said noticing she must have enjoyed her's a lot. Hell he had to admit if he didn't know about the Thorian, he would have wanted to stay in his.

"You sound as if you know it by experience Shepard." Garrus observed, causing everyone to look at him.

"Yea, almost had me too. But I got out." Shepard said. Then another pod along the wall opened up. Another asari, the original one that followed Saren, fell out. Everyone stared at her since only Shepard was the one who could use a gun properly for the moment. Before she could speak though the place shook. Everyone was trying to stay on their feet as Shepard suddenly felt something. It was coming from the pit and from he could sense it was coming from inside the Thorian's corpse. It was almost like the creation of an asari clone from the biotic feel, but it also felt like part of the Thorian had been seperated and condensed. Shepard started to believe whatever this thing was, they couldn't fight in here.

"We got to go now! Get up, grab her and let's go now! Now, now!" Shepard yelled as he grabbed the unnamed asari and began running to the exit with everyone following him. As they made it to the stairs Shepard felt the thing fully form and start to rip its way out of the Thorian. Shepard and crew finally made it out of the place and into the colony as the shakes became weaker. Shepard saw all of the colonists were back in the colony. Shepard handed the asari over to Kaidan.

"We need to get everyone into the docks and away from here!" Shepard shouted out to everyone.

"Why, isn't the thing dead?" Fai Dan asked.

"I'm not sure, but what I do know something was inside it and now it's making it's way up here, GO!" Shepard commanded as felt the thing making its way up. As everyone moved to the docks, Shepard ran to the ship controls and closed the passage. He then made a break for the entrance to the docks where his teams was when heard the sound of metal being wrenched and folded reached his ears. He slowly turned around and saw something that made him almost freeze in fear. The creature that had ripped its way up to the surface looked like a combination between a creeper and an asari clone. Its form was mostly asari, at least with the head crest. Its skin was gray and its torso was similar to a creeper's but more... lean and buffed out. It had claws like a creeper, but shorter. It's mouth was more like a creeper's too: teeth and no lips. Then Shepard saw its eyes gaze on him. Its pitch black soulless eyes. If that wasn't enough, the green biotic aura surrounding it made it look far more monstrous. (If you cant figure out, just picture what an Banshee and Creeper would look like combined without the wires. Scary isn't?)

"You are one ugly motherfucker." Shepard said. He could sense his team making a double for him. He knew immediately that they were at the entrance on the account of the sounds of their footsteps stopping right at there.

**"Motherfucker."** The creature said as if sounding it out to see if it liked how it rolled of its tongue. It's voice was deep, distorted and baritone with whisper finish. Shepard and everyone else was shocked. It could speak?

"What the hell are you?" Shepard asked coldly. The creature then looked at him specifically and its eyes narrowed at him.

**"I am New Growth, successor to the Old Growth of which you killed."** The now named New Growth said shocking Shepard.

"How do you know it was me?" Shepard asked.

**"We inherit the memories of our predecessors. In the Old Growth's final moments, it instructed me to kill you because you were the one that killed it." **New Growth explained.

"What will you do after you kill me? What do you want?" Shepard asked.

**"****To control Feros and then the galaxy! So Shepard, ready to die?"** New Growth said. Shepard created his second power strike in response.

"I was born ready motherfucker." Shepard said.

**"Motherfucker... I like that!"** New Growth said before Shepard biotically leaped into the air and descended onto New Growth, power strike first. The explosion blinded his team for a moment before everyone was shocked especially Shepard. When he collided into New Growth's barrier, he knew it would be powerful, but not so powerful that his power strike didn't even cause it to ripple! New Growth however was not shocked. Having the memories of the Old Growth allowed it to have knowledge of Shepard's abilities. Now that he was mobile and more condensed than the previous Thorian, his biotics were on a higher level than the asari clones. New Growth saw Shepard's shock and took advantage of it by using a very powerful throw on Shepard, sending him to the power generator.

Shepard hit the generator hard enough that when he landed, one of the panels was dented and fell off, revealing 2 long wires which connected the generator to the colony. New Growth then moved in small flashes, similar to what Shepard had done to save Liara and Ashley. New Growth was on Shepard within seconds already swiping at the Spectre with its deadly claws. Shepard managed to partially move to the side, allowing New Growth to hit the wires instead, cutting them. Shepard then grabbed the electrified wires and jabbed them into straight into New Growth's chest.

**"GGGGGGGYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"** New Growth roared in pain. Shepard could feel the electricity course through New Growth as well as see the light making New Growth's organs visible. Shepard noticed that New Growth's organ system was very similar to a human's except instead of one heart, there were 2. Both were adjacent to the lungs. Shepard then had a plan forming in his head on how to deal with New Growth, when the creature mentioned biotically grasped Shepard and hurled him to the other side of the colony. New Growth stalked over to Shepard this time, with those wires having caused it great fatigue. It only got halfway when someone fired a round into it's back. Looking around, it could see that it was the human female. The others followed up by firing into its back before it turned its hand toward them and erected a barrier. The shots impacted the barrier causing no harm at all. The squad continued to attack using their abilities, but none worked. New Growth was growing bored of them already and decided that it was time to cause them true defeat. It waved its other hand and everyone's weapons instantly overheated shocking them.

**"I know all about your technology and its weaknesses. For example, I caused a shift in your weapons mass accelerator part to make all of your rounds have more mass causing the load to be more than what you were using."** New Growth explained causing everyone to be afraid for a moment.

Shepard had watched as New Growth turned to his team as they distracted it. Shepard saw all the holes on New Growth. What shocked him was the fact that each whole came from a different gun and yet none of the rounds even went that deep. Then Shepard watched in fright as the holes closed and heal up at a very fast speed. Then when New Growth disabled their guns and explained it he was nearly downright terrified.

New Growth then began to gather biotic energy into its hands and then fired them towards the team. Shepard was a little afraid thinking it may have been a power strike, but was relieved to see it wasn't. Almost instantly 2 barriers formed where his squad was before the attacks hit. The attacks caused a ripple but that was it. On one side was the girl's team where Liara was making the the barrier. On the other side was the guys where both Kaidan and Wrex created the barrier. Shepard seeing his chance formed a third power strike and attack New Growth, this time scoring a direct hit.

**"RRRAAAAOOOWWW!"** New Growth yelled out as the power strike bore threw it. When the power strike ended everyone was in shock at the results. This time Shepard had managed to hit New Growth hard but he could now see New Growth's organs.

'So it has no real bones, just incredible tough and dense plant-like flesh holding itself together.' Shepard analyzed until New Growth whipped and back handed him further into the colony towards the tower entrance. New Growth began walking to where it threw Shepard, when Wrex saw his chance. He quickly charged at New Growth causing it to be knocked back. Wrex headbutted New Growth, pushing it back. New Growth quickly regained itself and gathered biotic energy its flat hand struck Wrex right in the shoulder. The blow went through his shields, his armor, plate armor and into his shoulder a little. The damage may have been far worse if there wasn't a three-way effort of Wrex using Barrier, Liara using stasis on New Growth and Kaidan backing Liara up with Neural Shock. New Growth noticed this.

**"Impressive teamwork..."** It commented before pulling its hand out of Wrex's shoulder. New Growth then biotically threw Wrex to them like a rag doll. As Wrex flew towards them, Liara and Kaidan used their biotics to make Wrex's landing easier while Garrus used his Sniper, Tali used Carnage and Ashley used Overkill on New Growth. Its barrier wasn't even flashing at the payload they used on it. It decided to finish its statement, **"but not good enough."**

Everyone was shocked at this creature. They used everything on it and didn't even scratch it! The only one who even managed to cause it pain was Shepard and merely smacked him away like a bug. New Growth then decided to give them despair.

**"Fight as long and hard as you can, it will not matter. I have extensive knowledge on your technology, my biotics are more powerful than all of yours combined, and I can endure as well as regenerate from attacks that would kill a geth colossus! I AM PERFECTION! You are nothing but vermin. Tools to be under my control. You and every other fleshling in the galaxy are going to be my slaves. WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"** New Growth said, laughing at the end with its green biotic aura flaring as it laughed. Everyone of Shepard's team was feeling despair. With New Growth's abilities, it was more powerful than all of them combined. New growth stopped laughing to see the despair set into their faces when it saw something out of the corner of its eye. IT turned only to be struck by an incredibly powerful omni-tool covered, biotically powered fist. The blow was so strong that New Growth went flying back at 9 feet before it regained its position. It looked at who would dare strike it in the face only to be shocked. Everyone else saw it happen and were all in awe at who attacked. What everyone saw was Shepard in his powered up form.

"You made a big mistake attacking my crew and threatening to enslave the galaxy." Shepard said in a very even voice. (Think of how Shepard's voice is in the control ending of mass effect 3 if you want.) Shepard was covered in a very intense biotic aura with his eyes glowing pure white. New Growth knew Shepard was glaring at it though. Shepard then instantly created a Super Power Strike with both hands and fired it right at New Growth. New Growth put up a hasty biotic barrier to protect itself. The barrier held strong and took most of the attack, but didn't last as the power strike destroyed it and what was left of the attack destroyed New Growth's hands. (If you want play bleach ost: cometh the hour part a.)

**'Impossible! How could he attained such power?! How?!'** New Growth frantically thought as it stared at its stumps. It then saw Shepard have his hands curled into fists, encased in omni-tool blades, each covered with a Neural Shock Charge (courtesy of Isaac). Shepard himself was in a lunge like position covered with his aura now pulsing.

"This is my new move, Juggernaut Strike." Shepard said in a cold voice. (Think of the biotic charge but with a very sharp point. Like biotic dart.) Shepard then flashed into New Growth, stabbing the creature right through and kept going until they both hit the stone wall. The amount of power from the attack was shown as the wall cracked and exploded on the other side. After a minute, Shepard walked away towards his team who was in complete shock at how Shepard took on the creature. That shock turned to fear when they saw New Growth getting back up, heavily damaged. They could all see its organs were exposed while the rest was completely see-through. Its body regenerated fast enough, but it's green goo that was its blood had still poured out.

**"Don't... you... turn... your.. back to me Shepard!"** New Growth yelled out to him. Shepard's form went out and looked to be back to normal as he stopped and turned around.

"I can kill you right now I hope you know that." Shepard coldly said.

**"Hehe you think that attack of yours is something I can't heal from? Please, I am perfect."** New Growth said. Shepard stared at the creature for a moment before he responded.

"No you're not, you're a thief and a scavenger. I've already deduced where your knowledge came from. It came from the knowledge of my crew when they had been captured by the older Thorian as well as the Thorian itself. As for your combat skills that also came from my crew too. When it's your biotic capabilities, that's simple. When you 'hatched' you devoured and absorbed the asari clones I had thrown down into the chasm myself. That's mostly why you look somewhat like an asari. Your regeneration is also from the Thorian and a genetic splice from my krogan friend over there. Trust me, you're not that hard to figure out." Shepard said shocking everyone. Wrex merely shook his head at Shepard's ability to read into things. That was when everyone noticed Shepard lifting a grenade switch into his hand for all to see. He had his thumb up over the button on it.

**"What's with the grenade switch? You going to blow yourself up to stop me? It won't work."** New Growth said smugly. Shepard then smirked a little.

"I don't have any grenades on me. You do though." Shepard said making New Growth look to see where Shepard had attached the grenades on it, but found none.

Shepard was smiling now before he said, "To be more specific, you have anti-thorian gas grenades inside of you!"

New Growth was now afraid and tried to find out when Shepard did it as did everyone else who were smiling at Shepard. The man himself saw this and decided to explain things.

"After my battle with the older Thorian I had 6 gas grenades left. When I electrocuted you, I could see your organs clearly. Finally when I charged you with my last attack, it was to wound you enough to place the grenades inside you so you would heal over them. I held the grenades in both of my hands when I attacked you. When you were shocked the dust was kicked up, I stored one in each heart, one in each lung, one in your stomach and one in your lower intestine." Shepard explained before he added, "You may have something from each of my crew, but you are 100% thorian creation." Shepard then pressed the button.

Everyone heard the grenades go off inside New Growth and watched in morbid fascination as its whole body withered and rotted from the inside out as the creature itself was in a silent scream. Finally the creature's body turned to dust as it fell apart. Shepard then looked towards his crew and made a big smile.

"We got it! Nice job team!" Shepard said before laughing causing everyone else to laugh as well.

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So what did you think? Come on tell me in the reviews! Bad? Okay? Weird?

Hope you enjoyed it at least!


	18. Mission Report 2

Okay people, first things first. Thank you for making those reviews so fast. I was happier than Naruto at an all-you-can eat ramen buffet.

For those of you with names registered, you've seen my message.

For the guest who asked about Shepard's strength and mind. Well the way I see it about his mind, if you can read into the things and come up with a strategy against a new enemy as fast as he did in the next chapter, there isn't no need to increase his intellect that much anymore. As for his strength, naturally he can probably land a pretty hard bunch to knock a person out cold and easily send them back a few feet. Now putting his biotics with a punch would probably be the equivalent, or higher, to a charging krogan. You saw what happened in the last chapter. So in a sense Shepard's strength has increased, but not in obvious ways.

Also from now on Shepard's voice will be like the one in ME 3 control ending when he is in that powered up form. I feel it's appropriate you know? Also, I got a name for it, but I won't reveal it for a while.

Please keep reviewing and asking any questions. I'll do my best to answer them. With that being said, please enjoy.

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Recap: Everyone heard the grenades go off inside New Growth and watched in morbid fascination as its whole body withered and rotted from the inside out as the creature itself was in a silent scream. Finally the creature's body turned to dust as it fell apart. Shepard then looked towards his crew and made a big smile.

"We got it! Nice job team!" Shepard said before laughing causing everyone else to laugh as well.

Now

Shepard and Wrex were now sitting down while everyone else checked them over to see the damage they sustained from New Growth's battle. Shepard saw what had happened when New Growth had pretty much backhanded him. He had to admit, his team was very well coordinated together when that attack.

"I got to say, your teamwork was very impressive in that fight." Shepard said. Everyone looked at him for a moment and smiled a little at that. Shepard then turned to Wrex.

"Wrex, you sure you're okay? I mean it looked like New Growth's little pierce attack got you pretty good for a second." Shepard asked. Wrex just grinned at him.

"Don't worry Shepard. The damage isn't as bad as it looks. I have to admit though, I'm a little surprised that thing's attack didn't go deeper with the way it pierced my barrier." Wrex said in thought.

"Actually Liara and I used a combination of stasis and neural shock on it to stop it, Wrex." Kaidan informed Wrex with Liara nodding in agreement.

"I thought I saw a glow surrounding it, but I thought it was just its biotics. Well thanks for the save." Wrex responded with a grateful nod.

"Actually that attack would've been far worse now that I think about it." Garrus cut in drawing everyone's attention.

"What do you mean Garrus?" Shepard asked, having an idea of what the turian was talking about.

"Well Shepard you bought all of us that Colossus armor as well as the upgrades. You, Ashley and Wrex are wearing the heavy version of the armor while I wear the medium version with everyone else wearing the light version." Garrus said receiving a nod from the spectre.

"And everyone on the team is definitely no slouch, in fact everyone here is very exceptional in their abilities, am I right?" Garrus continued getting nods from everyone.

"Garrus what exactly are you driving at here?" Tali asked curiously as she used her omni-tool to scan everyone's weapons and armor for any damage.. She couldn't follow what he was trying to say.

"What he's saying Tali, is that even with the advanced armor and upgrades, New Growth still went through it like it was nothing." Ashley said seeing what Garrus was going on about.

"Very good Ashley, but you missed something else." Garrus said nodding at her answer while he and Kaidan were doing first aid for Wrex.

"Hmmm? What?" Ashley asked as she was giving first aid to Shepard along with Liara. Shepard was silently happy that everyone was getting along.

"It wasn't just the armor and upgrades. Kaidan and I used a very powerful Stasis and Neural Shock while Wrex used Barrier, and New Growth still went through it without any real effort." Liara said making everyone but Shepard and Garrus balk at the insinuation. If it wasn't for any of that Wrex could have died today!

"True, but I like to think it was more of a testament to New Growth's power. It's not like all the enemies we face will have that kind of strength. Besides, in the end we won and we're all alive. I'm proud of your teamwork in fighting New Growth." Shepard said with a small smile making everyone a little more calm. That was when Wrex looked at Shepard and started talking again.

"Speaking of power Shepard, are you okay?" Wrex asked seriously, making everyone looking at him in confusion.

"I feel fine Wrex, well except for feeling a little sore in... everywhere." Shepard said joking a little. Wrex still looked at Shepard seriously.

"That's not what I'm talking about. I know your genetic modifications protected and healed any damage New Growth inflicted on you when it knocked you around. What I'm talking about is that form you took again. Last time it put you in so much pain that I had to knock you out." Wrex said making everyone look at Shepard with a little worry. Shepard looked a little surprised for a moment before he smirked a little.

"Now that you mention it I did go into it for a little bit." Shepard said as he looked down at his hands before continuing, "When I heard New Growth talking about enslaving everyone, I just... got so angry at it that I ended up summoning the power unconsciously."

Everyone looked at him for a minute before Kaidan spoke again.

"That doesn't explain why your not in pain from it though." he said. Shepard looked at him before answering.

"Well if I had to guess it would be because of my genetics." Shepard said making everyone think over what he told them before. There was increased intellect, healing, and biotics. Then there was the ability to outfight a krogan. After that it was... that was it.

"Shepard all you told us about it was increased intellect, biotics, healing and being able to outfight a krogan." Tali said making Shepard look at her confused before he thought back to it. Then Shepard's eyes went wide in realization.

"There was one more thing with it. It was being able to adapt to any situation. Maybe it includes being able to adapt to very dangerous affects too." Shepard said. Everyone thought of it, but decided to leave things as they were. Shepard was too confusing sometimes. That was when the asari the Thorian held came up to them.

"You freed me from the Thorian earlier. I-I suppose I should thank you for it." The asari said awkwardly. Shepard and everyone else looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You looked like you were in that pod for quite some time. You okay?" Shepard asked.

"I am. Or I will be, in time." The asari said nodding.

"Who exactly are you?" Kaidan asked.

"My name is Shiala. I serve- I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I." Shiala said making everyone but Shepard be on guard.

"Why did my mother join him?" Liara demanded in a somewhat cold tone which caused everyone to look at her in surprise. Shepard's cold personality must have started rubbing off on her. Shiala looked confused for moment before realization set in.

"You must be Liara, Matriarch Benezia's daughter." Shiala stated. Liara looked surprised for a second before Shiala continued, "Lady Benezia always mentioned you from time to time. Worrying for you."

Liara was a little shell-shocked at that. Shepard noticed and figured that something must have happened last time she and her mother spoke. He figured it was none of his business before turning back to the conversation.

"You still didn't explain why she and Saren joined forces." Tali said jumping into the conversation. Shiala looked to be lost in thought as she recalled what happened.

"Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path, but Saren is compelling. Benezia lost her way." Shiala said sadly. Liara looked stricken by this news.

"Sooo what? Saren has the ability to control minds?" Ashley asked being skeptical.

"It probably isn't that far from the truth." Shepard muttered.

"Benezia underestimated Saren, as I did. We came to believe in his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling." Shiala said with her head down in thought.

"So Benezia was tricked into working with him?" Kaidan asked. Shiala nodded in response.

"Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy. How could one fall under Saren's control?" Shepard asked having a bad feeling from this.

"Saren has a vessel. An enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers." Shiala responded. Shepard rose his eyebrow at that. Could it be...

"Did this vessel have metallic appendages and a crest that made it look like some type of sea creature?" Shepard asked making everyone look at him in confusion.

"Yes." Shiala said thinking it over, making everyone look at her now. Wrex then spoke.

"Shepard you've seen this ship before?" he asked.

"Yes, on Eden Prime. Damn thing is what destroyed my ship." Shepard causing Ashley and Kaidan to think over the events of what happened there. For Kaidan, he remembered the footage that he saw as the Normandy came near Eden Prime, metallic tentacle-like appendages. For Ashley, she could remember seeing it in person, if only partially. So Shepard had gotten a good look at it. Shepard then looked back toward Shiala.

"Please continue." Shepard said. Shiala began to pace as she resumed speaking.

"They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The process is subtle, it can take days, weeks. But in the end, it is absolute." Shiala said. Shepard shook his head at that. One of the few things he learned was that there were very few things in the galaxy that were absolute. He then noticed Shiala kept speaking.

"I was willing slave when Saren brought me to this world. He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian in order to learn its secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian." she said, melancholy now. Shepard looked at her with a little sadness now.

"Hmmm. Saren is pretty quick to betray his own people." Shepard stated. Shiala looked at him with a little fire in her eyes.

"He was quick to betray the Thorian too. After he had what he wanted, he ordered the geth to wipe out all evidence of its existence." Shiala said.

"Why would he try to cover things up? We wouldn't have known about this whole thing if he hadn't attacked anyway." Garrus said thinking over things like he did at c-sec.

"Because Saren knows you are searching for the Conduit. He knows you are following his steps. He attacked the Thorian to prevent you from gaining the Cipher." Shiala informed causing everyone to look at her strangely. Cipher? What Cipher?

"Whats the Cipher and why did Saren need it?" Shepard asked.

"Saren knows you saw what was stored in the beacon on Eden Prime. It gave you visions, but they were unclear, confusing. They were meant for a prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence." Shiala said. Shepard quietly looked at Liara and noticed she looked like Lis did when he bought her a diamond. He chalked it up to the fact she was a prothean researcher. Something like this might just be like the finding treasure to her.

"Just out of curiosity, did Saren mention what he saw from the beacon before he received the Cipher?" Shepard asked remembering something about his visions. Shiala looked as if she tried to remember what it was.

"Now that you mention it he did say he saw shadowy figures being wiped out by synthetics, but he couldn't see what they looked like." Shiala informed. Shepard looked strangely confused.

"That's strange." He said.

"Why?" Shiala asked causing everyone to pay attention to him.

"Well when I had the vision, I could see the figures' faces clearly." Shepard said shocking everyone but Ash and Kaidan.

"Then you must be more in tune with the protheans than most are. No wonder you have Saren on the alert." Shiala said surprising everyone.

"What do you mean? We haven't done anything really detrimental to him yet." Wrex said.

"Not any of you... him." Shiala said pointing at Shepard who was a little uneasy at the stares he was now getting.

"Any reason for just me?" Shepard asked already feeling the stares starting to bore through him.

"Unlike all of Saren's other enemies, you are the only one he can't predict. Back on Eden Prime, Saren battled a fellow Spectre who was on par with him. He still won though. Then you came along and battled him evenly, without Spectre training I might add. Then you manged to somehow convince the Council of Saren's guilt when he was sure they wouldn't even look for the evidence. Then you become a Spectre yourself, gaining the resources and clearance that he had been stripped of. Not only that, you managed to save Liara T'Soni from his geth. After your Spectre inauguration, Saren went to work on finding any and all information on you. He found out what you did on Elysium, Akuze and Torfan. To him Shepard, you're the biggest threat to his plans." Shiala informed making everyone think that with Shepard on their side and with how he has made Saren uneasy, they have a real chance of stopping him. Shepard himself though was a little nervous and not for himself, but for Liselle. If Saren was digging for info about, what's to stop him from harming Liselle if he finds out about her? He then noticed that Shiala looked a little embarrassed.

"I must admit, when I heard about your exploits, I thought they were just stories. Looking at your battle with both Thorians though, proves I was wrong." Shiala said. That last comment though made Shepard suspicious. The second one, New Growth, he could understand. The first one though had him baffled for a bit.

"Wait a minute, how could you see my first fight with the Thorian?" Shepard asked with his eyes narrowed. Everyone else caught on to what he was saying. For all they knew, she could've been another Thorian reincarnated. Shiala looked at them, a little nervous at their stares.

"I was connected to the Thorian on very deep level. I could see everything it saw. From when you first arrived to when you broke out of its' enthrallment. I must admit, out of all of everyone's, your's was the most simple Shepard." Shiala said smiling a little at the girls. When she said she saw 'everything', the girls were blushing red, purple or their helmet looked to be glowing a little. Shepard decided not to ask when he saw everyone balk a little at it. Shepard then decided it was time to get back to the important things.

"Well you said something about the Cipher?" Shepard egged on. Shiala then came back to what she was talking about earlier.

"The Thorian was here long before the protheans built this city. It watched and studied them. When they died, it consumed them. They became a part of it." Shiala explained.

"So the Thorian taught Saren to think like a prothean? How?" Shepard asked getting more confused.

"The Cipher is the very essence of being a prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing a color to a creature without eyes." Shiala continued. Shepard thought it over before he realized it.

"So it would need to be taught with something like a mind meld?" Shepard asked. Shiala nodded enthusiastically.

"Exactly! To understand, you must have access to endemic ancestral memory. A viewpoint spanning thousands of prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory- the Cipher- when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught, it only exists." Shiala said.

"Well Shiala, I'm going to need that knowledge to stop Saren. Could you pass it to me?" Shepard asked as he got up. Everyone else followed suit. Shiala nodded to Shepard as she approached him.

"Try to relax, Shepard. Slow deep breathes." Shepard became perfectly still as he closed his eyes. Shiala continued as she got in front of him, "Let go of your physical shell. Reach out and grasp the threads that bind us, one to another. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit." Everyone looked on with a little anxiety at what was going on.

"We are all connected. Every living being united in a single glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Ghost." Shiala's eyes suddenly turned black as she spoke with more emotion now, "Embrace eternity!" Then more images came like the one from the vision only this time it was more slower, easier to process. The whole ting was similar except for only a few things. Images of a place he had never been to. Some type of metal construction that he had never met before, but could have sworn he had seen it some place. Then it all turned to the viewpoint of a system with a blazing sun, then turned to the planet. It was shadowed from the position he was at. He then suddenly came toward the planet at a very fast but stable pace. Shepard could see something as he approached the center but what... Sovereign! Then the vision ended.

Everything went back to normal for Shepard as he saw everyone looking at both him and Shiala, who was on her knees and panting a little.

"I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the protheans are now a part of you." Shiala said still breathing a little heavily as she got up.

"A knowledge bond can be very traumatic. Are you alright Shepard?" Liara asked.

"I saw something that was... troubling. Other than that, I feel fine. What I want to know is why are you in that state." Shepard said as he looked toward Shiala whose breathing evened out.

"While your mind was open, your will made it difficult so I had to struggle a little." Shiala explained. Shepard nodded in understand.

"You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process this information." Shiala informed.

"It might be best that we get you on board the Normandy, so you can be monitored." Liara said thinking it could make Shepard suffer a mental breakdown of some kind.

"I am sorry if you have suffered, but there was no other way. You needed the Cipher, in time, it will help you understand the vision from the beacon." Shiala said.

"Now that your free, what will you do next?" Shepard asked watching her reaction. He knew she could still be under some type of control. Shiala looked to be deep in thought before she answered.

"If you will allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists. They have suffered greatly, and I played a role in their suffering. I would like to make amends." Shiala said making Shepard stare at her for a moment before answering.

"After all the shit that's happened to them, they'll need all the help they can get. They'll be happy to have you on their side." Shepard said as he started to make his way to the docks.

"Thank you, Ghost. May fortune smile upon you." Shiala said. Shepard then stopped before he turned around with a sheepish expression.

"Before I forget tell the colonists I'm sorry about their generator's wires getting cut. Some omni-gel should fix it fast though." Shepard said as he rubbed the back of his head. Shiala nodded in response before the whole team left for the Normandy.

An hour later

The Normandy was now flying through the empty void of space, away from Feros and headed towards the mass relay. Inside, Shepard and the team had changed back into their normal clothes. Moving around in armor like that was like wearing stones on them constantly. Everyone was to meet up in the comm room. Shepard had arrived first, now clad in his pitch black fatigues. While he was waiting he couldn't help but wonder why there were no other clothes on board except for fatigues. He wasn't going too use the Alliance military issued fatigues though. They looked too tight to him. Granted Ashley made them look good, as did the other ladies wearing them. But to him, he did not want his junk to be either outlined or strangled. He didn't know how everyone else did it. Shepard noticed that Wrex, Garrus and Tali had switched back into their old outfits. Shepard could understand Tali's reasons because it was her favorite color. Wrex and Garrus though, he couldn't understand for the life of him. It was pretty much changing out of one set of armor into another one. He noticed Liara was back into that doctor's or researcher's outfit. The armor of her's still needs to be readjusted.

"Uh Shepard? You look... pale. Are you suffering any ill effects from the Cipher?" Liara asked, looking at him with concern. Shepard thought over her question before answering.

"I'd be lying if I said the Cipher didn't shake me up a bit." Shepard said. In truth it was only part of it. When he saw Sovereign, or at least something similar, in the vision, he was sure it couldn't be just a coincidence.

"I might be able to help you. I am an expert on the protheans, if I join my consciousness to yours maybe we can make sense of it." Liara offered. Shepard could see both concern and eagerness in her eyes. He decided to go along with it.

"Let's do it. I don't think we can afford to waste any time here." Shepard said as he walked over to her as she got up. They got close enough where she began to speak.

"Relax Shepard. Embrace eternity!" Liara said as her eyes turned pitch black. Shepard saw the replay of the vision except he noticed that it didn't include the system part to Sovereign. Maybe it's because Liara's mind is not ready yet? He suddenly found himself back in the comm room. Liara looked a little fatigued from the experience.

"That was incredible! All this time, all my research, yet I never dreamed..." Liara began to rant until she caught Shepard's expectant stare before going, "I'm sorry, the images were so vivid. I never imagined the experience would be so... intense. Shiala was right about you. You must be remarkably strong-willed Shepard. What you've been through, what you've seen, would have destroyed a lesser mind."

"Come on, get to the point! What did you see?" Ashley said getting both impatient and jealous at how the moment was.

"The beacon on Eden Prime must have been badly damaged. Large parts of the vision are missing. The data transferred into Shepard's mind is incomplete." Liara said, having not noticed Ashley's jealously and surprising everyone at this new information. Shepard looked like he was actually shocked at it. He hadn't considered that.

"But you must have seen something." Shepard said.

"I was able to interpret the data relayed through your vision. What was there at least anyway. But something was missing." Liara said making Shepard brainstorm. Missing? There was that part about the system that wasn't there. Maybe that was it. Shepard heard Liara start to talk again.

"Saren must have the missing information. Maybe he found another beacon. If we can find the missing data from your vision I can- whoa!" Liara started to say before she stumbled a little. Shepard put his hands on her shoulders to hold her steady until she regained her balance.

"Liara are you alright?" Shepard asked concerned. Everyone else was a little worried about it too considering they looked to be almost getting out of their seats to help.

"I'm sorry. The joining is... exhausting. I should go to the medical bay and lie down for a moment." Liara said as she started to move out of the comm room.

"We're done here, dismissed." Shepard said thinking it was time to end the conversation. Everyone filed out quickly until only Shepard and Ashley remained.

"Ashley was there something you wanted to talk about?" Shepard asked curiously. It wasn't like her to stay around in a place that didn't have anything she could work on. Ashley stood silent for a moment looking down. Unknown to Shepard she was blushing a little, before she answered him.

"I-I wanted to say thanks for saving us." Ashley said. Shepard was about to say it was no problem before she walked up and kissed him on the cheek before she practically sprinted out of the comm room. Shepard just stood there frozen for a minute in shock. His primal self was screaming at him to go get her, but by some miracle he managed to ignore it... for now at least. That was when he suddenly heard Joker's voice over the intercom, startling him.

"I've just sent off the Feros report Shepard. You want me to patch you through to the Council?" Joker asked.

"Might as well." Shepard said as he sighed a little.

"Setting up the link now, Shepard." He then turned to where the Council's holograms appeared. The first to speak was the Asari Councilor, Tevos.

"Ghost. Exogeni should have told us about the Thorian. It would have made your job much easier." Tevos said. For some reason Shepard felt like it was just false comfort to him. The Salarian Councilor, Valern then spoke.

"You may have been able to capture either one for study instead of destroying them." Valern said. That little idea provoked Shepard to talk.

"Not a chance, Councilor. Those things cared nothing for anything other than themselves. The new one who could speak? It actually said it had plans to enslave everyone in the galaxy. You really want to try and study that?" Shepard retorted. Valern froze for a moment before answering.

"True, Ghost. You may be right." Valern said stroking his chin in thought.

"Perhaps it's for the best then. At least the colony was saved." Tevos said with a small smile. Then Shepard heard his least favorite councilor speak.

"Of course it was saved. Shepard would go to any lengths to help a human colony." Sparatus said with blatant criticism. Shepard looked at him annoyed and he could see the turian saw it too.

"Being human had nothing to do with it. Innocent people were in trouble and I could help them. It doesn't matter to me if it's human, turian, asari, salarian or any other species. You don't like the way I do things: getting the mission accomplished as well as going above and beyond things, too bad. You want someone else to do things the way you want them too, get another spectre. I know you have plenty more, _Sparatus_." Shepard said back using the councilor's name. Said turian was in shock as well as the others.

"Such disrespect-" Sparatus began to growl out before Valern cut him off.

"Admirable, but sometimes Spectres have to make sacrifices. I hope you're willing to do that when the time comes." Valern said hoping to diffuse the situation.

"When the time comes, we'll find out." Shepard said.

"We also have read the report of your battle with... New Growth?" Tevos asked.

"That's what it called itself." Shepard said shrugging. This time he hadn't skipped the details, not even the form or the power strike. The only thing he hadn't mentioned was his genetics. Didn't want to give the salarians more reason to go after him.

"That thing nearly tore me and my squad apart. We managed to beat it, barely." Shepard said rubbing his shoulder he had landed on the second time.

"Yes, the creature had incredibly powerful biotics and precise mass effect field control." Valern said, his salarian curiosity peaking up again. Shepard nodded at that.

"What I'm more curious about is the form you took and that attack of yours. A... Power Strike?" Sparatus asked. Shepard nodded and explained the power strike was in a nutshell.

"That sounds like a devastating move... if it were true." Tevos said. Shepard rose an eyebrow at her.

"I'm guessing you don't believe me?" Shepard stated a little miffed.

"Well, it's just that the asari are natural biotics. We've done more research on it than any other race in the galaxy, more so than the salarians even. In the thousands of years of our history, not one of has even thought of a move like that. If I didn't know any better, I would believe you were making up stories." Tevos said. The other Councilors were nodding, Sparatus looking smug. That was the final straw for Shepard. He stuck his hand out for all of them to see before he gathered biotic energy into his hand, creating a power strike. The Councilors watched awestruck at it. Shepard then looked at Tevos with his cold stare, causing her to be nervous.

"All of you listen and listen well, cause I'm only saying this once. I'm a lot of things: vigilante, hero, murderer, fighter and an assassin from time to time. But when it comes to my abilities, I don't boast about them without proof. If you still don't believe me, I'd more than happy to fly over to the Citadel and slam one into each of your offices." Shepard in a cold tone that made every single one of them balk before saying anything. Valern broke the silence first.

"T-T-That's unnecessary Ghost, we believe you right?" Valern said quickly making the others nod fast. Shepard powered down the power strike before talking again.

"Now then, are there anymore questions?" Shepard asked evenly.

"That form that was in the report..." Sparatus began to say before Shepard spoke up.

"No I don't know how I go into it, no I don't know what causes it, and no I don't know why it's only in me." Shepard said having guessed those were the questions. The Councilors were stunned a little. That was when Shepard realized something.

"Before I forget," Shepard causing them to pay attention. "I've found out the Benezia is being controlled. I'm not too sure about Saren though, I'll need more data on him. Could you forward his files to me please? It could help me better understand him." Shepard said making the Councilors confused.

"Why exactly do you want to understand him?" Sparatus asked in a more controlled tone now.

"There is an old book in human literature called 'The Art of War'. In one of the earlier chapters it says if you know your enemy and know yourself, then you will be imperiled in a hundred battles. I know myself, but I do not know Saren. You can understand what I'm talking about, Sparatus, coming from a military society. Besides I've heard that Saren has been looking into my history." Shepard explained. Sparatus nodded at the answer.

"I will send any and all data and documents to you, Ghost." Sparatus said as he logged off. Valern nodded before logging off. Shepard thought Tevos would be logging of as he turned around before he heard someone go 'ahem'. Shepard turned around to see that Tevos was still there.

"Councilor Tevos, is there something else you wanted?" Shepard asked, trying to be polite.

"I just wanted to talk to the man who saved my daughter out in the Terminus." Tevos replied. Shepard brainstormed for a moment, trying to figure out who it was. He rescued a lot of asari during his time as Ghost. Tevos saw his thoughtful expression and tried to give him a hint.

"You and her have been dating for a while now." she said, making Shepard's eyes go wide.

"Lis? Lis is your daughter?" Shepard asked in shock. Tevos nodded smiling. It took a few minutes for Shepard's mind to reboot from that before he smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well that explains where she gets her kind personality." Shepard said making Tevos chuckle. Shepard then turned serious as he lowered his hand from his head.

"You do know that she...?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I do know about that." Tevos said a little solemn. In her opinion, if Liselle was going to be with anyone from the Terminus, it would be with someone like Ghost. Someone who could protect and was kind. Not many people were like that in the Terminus.

"You have any idea why...?" Shepard asked before Tevos shook her head no. He silently cursed.

"Well thanks anyway. You guys wouldn't happen to have anymore information on Saren and the geth currently?" Shepard asked hoping to steer clear of the conversation. Tevos could see it too so she went with it.

"I'm a afraid not. We'll send any information to Ambassador Udina or Captain Anderson if we do." Tevos said.

"Well talk to you later then." Shepard sighed out.

"Goodbye Ghost. We'll be waiting to hear from you again." Tevos said as she logged out. Shepard just stood there in the room.

'Lis, what would cause you to break up with me? I know we never had any problems, in fact we were one of the most hopeful couples on Omega. That's saying something, right?' Shepard silently thought out as he made to leave the comm room.

* * *

I know short right? Sorry it's just a filler today. Had mild case of writer's block mixed with laziness.

Well review please. If you got any suggestions about the next chapter or the story itself, or if simply want to make a bad comment, I'll listen.

Heads up! Next chapter(s) will also be fillers too, for the side missions. After that whole New Growth fight I can't think of anything else for non-canon.

Hope you enjoyed reading it though!


	19. Know Thy Spectre, know thy enemy

Recap: 'Lis, what would cause you to break up with me? I know we never had any problems, in fact we were one of the most hopeful couples on Omega. That's saying something, right?' Shepard silently thought out as he made to leave the comm room.

Now

At the Citadel

After the Councilors logged off, Sparatus called a Council meeting concerning the newest spectre, Ghost a.k.a Shepard. They were now in the private chambers. This was where a majority of the meetings took place concerning matters such as colonization rights and special projects like the Destiny Ascension several years back. Sparatus entered the room first, escorted by 2 turian bodyguards. Each Councilor must have 2 specially trained bodyguards of their own races for several reasons, including a show of commitment, power and confidence. Sparatus' bodyguards are in actuality a Turian Soldier and a Turian Sentinel. Originally Sparatus preferred to have a Turian Havoc Soldier and a Saboteur instead, but they were best used in military operations. Besides a Soldier and a Sentinel were still a lethal combination. As he sat down he noticed that Tevos entered, escorted by her 2 guards, an Asari Huntress and Valkyrie. From what Sparatus had learned, these 2 asari were learning the recently discovered biotic abilities dubbed Dark Channel and Annihilation Field. He snorted at that.

'The asari are holding the best biotic abilities from all the other races.' He thought disgruntled. Then his mandibles twitched into a turian smirk. He remembered seeing Tevos' face when Ghost had showed all of them his Power Strike. He had to admit while he did not like Ghost, he could respect a man who shows no fear and is honest about himself as well as his abilities. Honesty like that, to be able to tell someone in power what you think of them, takes guts. Then Sparatus' smirk turned into a frown. Shepard's blatant disrespect was one of the things he wanted to talk about as well as Ghost's abilities and skills. Sparatus knew Nihlus was right, Ghost was indeed spectre material. Ghost had filled the role in quite fast.

Sparatus then noticed Valern enter escorted by his 2 guards, an Infiltrator and an Engineer. Even though the salarians were very smart, they lacked muscle. A smart person knows a salarian's most dangerous tool is their mind. A smarter person knows better then try to outright attack a salarian, especially one with military training. Sparatus knew these two were probably very dangerous, they could sabotage both his guards easily if they weren't careful. As Valern sat down, he spoke first.

"Sorry I arrived late, I was going through some data." He apologized.

"It's no trouble Valern." Tevos said with Sparatus nodding in agreement. Tevos then looked at Sparatus.

"Is there a reason as to why you called this meeting Sparatus?" Tevos asked. Sparatus nodded before answering as he bidden the guards to leave.

"Yes, I called this meeting to discuss our... newest spectre." Sparatus said. He noticed Valern get much more interested now as Tevos looked to be annoyed.

"If this is about getting him to be ejected from the spectres, it's still no." Tevos said in annoyance. Earlier after Ghost's first report to them, Sparatus tried to use the prothean ruin's destruction to try and have Ghost fired from the spectres. Tevos and Valern were against it for obvious reasons. Tevos wanted Ghost around because he was doing good work: He had managed to save Liara T'Soni, and his actions on Elysium, Akuze and Torfan made it show how his abilities were. Valern was against it because he wanted to study Ghost. Valern and several other salarians knew a human with biotics and intellect like Ghost had was incredibly rare, especially with biotics! Not only that but Valern knew Ghost did not take down all those slavers just by himself. No, he had to have at least one powerful person backing him up. From what STG agents had recently brought to him, he may have found something that might make the Council try to keep Ghost in their sights at the least. When Ghost ended up becoming a spectre, Valern knew that this would probably one the most perfect opportunities he could get to study Ghost.

"I'm done trying to get Ghost out of the spectres. When he was inducted, the Alliance ceased barking about it, or at the very least quieted down. No, I'm here to talk about his attitude and abilities." Sparatus said making his counterparts raise their eyebrows.

"Alright then." Tevos said as she ushered Sparatus to continue.

"Ghost's attitude is not what a spectres should be. He's got little to no respect for authority. It's obvious his focus is not completely on the mission given the fact that the missions we have sent him on involved the destruction of a major prothean ruin and ended saving a colony, risking himself, his team and by extension, the mission itself." Sparatus said. Valern nodded, seeing Sparatus' points.

"Very true Sparatus, very true. However we ourselves said that spectres accomplish the mission no matter the cost. The mission on Therum was to find and acquire Doctor Liara T'Soni to see if she knew anything of Benezia's involvement. Ghost did just that, the cost was the prothean ruin." Valern reasoned out logically. Tevos picked up after him.

"And on Feros, we sent him there to see why the geth were attacking, if Saren was there or had been there, and if so why. Ghost did all that and managed to save the colony too. True he was at risk and the mission as well, but is that not the case with most of our Spectres?" Tevos said finishing any little argument Sparatus had.

"Fine then, you made your point. How about we get to his abilities then shall we?" Sparatus said.

"Anything in particular you wish to talk about?" Tevos asked.

"Yes, his biotic prowess for one. He seemed to have you surprised when we last spoke to him, Tevos." Sparatus said. Tevos hesitated, remembering the report she received before contacting Ghost. In all her years, she had never seen or heard of a move like the power strike. So simple, yet so powerful. Then there was the fact he hadn't taught it to anyone, at least not yet. Something she was happy about. If many more people could use a biotic attack like that, the galaxy would be in more turmoil than it was now. Then there was that form he described.

"I will admit, I was skeptical at first when he had described it, but he obviously hadn't been lying when he showed it. Why, what's wrong?" Tevos asked trying to maintain the cool, wise councilor look.

"It's just the fact that he made a move that none of the asari have even thought of, yet he does not flaunt it about. Not like most humans would anyway. Then there is his training. Usually when we induct someone to become a spectre, we review their training, their service and their history. We have none of that." Sparatus said making Tevos look a little alarmed. No records means no leverage to use or figure out what missions to send him on. Luckily Valern entered the conversation again.

"Actually I have managed to acquire several things the Alliance had sent in on Ghost." Valern said shocking the his counter parts.

"Let's hear it." Both said at the same time. Tevos because she wanted to learn more about who Ghost was and how he became the person he was today. Sparatus because he felt it was best to find out who Ghost truly was, all he knew was the man's name and abilities. Valern nodded and took his omni-tool out and began reading the data.

"Ghost of the Terminus. Name: John Shepard. Personality shows very different aspects: Calm and joking when he is off missions, cold and very observant on missions. Leadership skills are very impressive. Charismatic, understanding, powerful. High intelligence shows fast learning capability, impressive memory process and ability to break down events and find out the cause in-spite of almost no education. Birth place: the human colony of Mindoir. In correlation of his birth date and the slavery attack on Mindoir a few decades back, the data suggests that he was 11 years old at the time. One of the few survivors." Valern said shocking them and himself. He knew for humans it was a young age to lose everything was tragic, especially like that. Tevos was saddened by it, having to hear one lose their family so young. Sparatus merely closed his eyes, knowing it had to be tough for Shepard. Valern then continued.

"He drops off the grid after that until, by his own accounting, he later appears and settles on Omega at 16. A month after that, the Ghost of the Terminus appears and starts going after... slavers and pirates." Valern said before nodding his head. Tevos and Sparatus both nodded along, figuring that Ghost was doing it for revenge.

"After that Ghost makes several attacks on slaver rings and bases for a few years until he suddenly sends a message to the Alliance and later appears on the human colony of Elysium. Oh, there's footage." Valern says before playing it on the projector inside the room. They see Ghost leading everyone into a hospital while gunfire and explosions are going off. Then the footage continues until it shows the reinforcements coming and the camera then zooms in on Ghost jumping into the enemy ranks and starts to maneuver through them, killing all of them with just his omni-blades. They all noticed that Ghost was using tactics like turning the enemies into shields, or grabbing an enemy and making hims shoot his comrades. The footage ends as Ghost suddenly runs in the direction of the docks. The Council stood there for a minute before Valern continued on.

"Afterwards, Shepard is called in for a meeting with several Alliance figures including Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson. They offer Ghost a job as a Corsair, but he turns it down. He then drops off the grid again until he is seen on Akuze using incredibly powerful biotics as well as his other skills to take on 3 thresher maws." Valern said. He then showed the footage that Ghost had given Anderson all those years ago.

"Did he teach himself when his biotics manifested?" Sparatus asked. Valern merely shrugged.

"It's not really known, it is assumed though." Valern said before Tevos spoke up.

"Actually someone did teach him." Tevos said gaining the turian and salarian's attention.

"Who?" Valern asked quickly thinking if someone taught him, he may be able to send STG Operatives to find out more about Ghost and the extent of his abilities.

"Aria T'Loak." Tevos said shocking them. Aria T'Loak was not known for her teaching methods. She was known for being ruthless, tyrannical and incredibly manipulative.

"Why would she of all people train Ghost?" Valern asked.

"And how do you know this?" Sparatus demanded right after Valern finished talking. Tevos looked at them both before answering.

"Very well, you know how Aria and I talk involving trade, locations and potential criminals that may be entering our space correct?" Tevos asked in a dignified manner. Sparatus and Valern nodded. Out of all of them, Tevos was the only one who could get Aria to listen and talk. Neither knew the reason as to why though.

"Well, one day when we were in talks, she mentioned that she finally found the Ghost of the Terminus. Aria had been trying to find one of the few most disruptive elements in her section of space for some time then, to manipulate and use him." Tevos said before Valern interrupted her.

"This does not explain how Ghost ended up being taught by her." Valern said eager to find out more. Tevos looked at him annoyed causing him to compose himself.

"I was getting to that. Apparently, Ghost had saved one of her most important and trusted agents, escorted them back to Omega and to Aria herself. When she found out who Ghost was she offered him a reward in an attempt to manipulate him. He saw through it immediately and asked her if she could find someone to teach him biotics. Aria decided to do so herself, in order to best figure him out. During the training, Ghost's biotics were shown to be very strong, and when it finished, his biotics were on par with hers. Over the years Ghost kept in touch and rose in her unofficial ranks, becoming her spectre equivalent." Tevos explained. She wouldn't dare tell them the agent that was saved was her's and Aria's daughter. It would be scandalous with how the press would find out and blow it all up. She took the moment to look at her colleagues' expressions. Valern looked like a nerd who had found a new book describing theoretical quantum physics. Sparatus looked a little more cautious almost as if he was considering Ghost to be someone that needed to be locked up.

"That explains the biotics, but not the combat and tech training." Sparatus said. He had a tactical mind when it came to observing things and from what he observed, Shepard was becoming more and more of a potential threat. Perhaps an ally too, but it would be unlikely. Someone who spends time in the company of Aria T'Loak for years is most likely a scoundrel.

"I'm afraid that's all I know about Ghost and his training from Aria." Tevos said shaking her head.

"I believe the combat and tech training came in the time between the Mindoir attack and when he appeared on Omega at 16." Valern said.

"We don't have much on Shepard except his achievements and known training. What about the people connected to him?" Sparatus asked Valern knowing he had STG Operatives running around constantly collecting data on Shepard ever since he found out who he was. Valern typed on his omni-tool.

"Do you want to know about anyone in particular?" Valern asked. Sparatus thought it over before answering, "Start with the ones before he came to Eden Prime." Valern nodded and brought it up. The files showed several people on the projector.

"Most of them we already know of. Ghost seems to have met Captain Anderson and Lieutenant Alenko over the years during Elysium, Akuze, and Torfan. Very minimal though, only a few conversations." Valern said before looking at Tevos and Sparatus.

"Who is the one with no picture?" Tevos asked seeing an unmarked picture file. Valern looked at it before answering.

"That is the one person we are having the most difficulty figuring out. Shepard has been in contact with this person for years now." Valern said selecting the file.

"Why is this one difficult?" Sparatus asked wondering what could keep the salarian STG from finding out. They were probably the best saboteurs, hackers and secret operatives in the galaxy barring the spectres.

"We've found birth records, tax records and various small time business transactions, but what has us, as the humans would say 'stumped', is the fact we have found no picture, fingerprints or audio of any kind of this person. Not even the Shadow Broker has anymore information than this." Valern said looking at the name 'Isaac Clarke' in scrutiny. This person was a very frustrating person to find, in Valern's opinion. They found legitimate businesses the guy owned, but that was it. What Sparatus was curious about was some of the businesses and small companies this 'Isaac' had. A few small time restaurants, several small mining factories digging for palladium, eezo, platinum, iridium; a somewhat small factory that uses said resources to create weapon parts, mechs, mods, armor pieces, and various other things that get shipped out to everyone including the Citadel, Alliance and the private armies. It also creates simple VIs for said mechs. Isaac even contributed to the Omega First Security, keeping them supplied and providing medical care for any of Omega's residents for a relatively small price. None of it was concerned with slavers, so why would Isaac be connected to Shepard?

"What do we know about the people he's connected to now?" Tevos asked. Valern turned the files to the people Shepard was scene acting familiar with. On the files it was his team, Anderson, and... Chun.

"So who are they? Besides Doctor T'Soni." Sparatus asked. Valern turned to Kaidan Alenko's file first.

"Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, part of the human Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training program, Sentinel, L2 Biotic implants. Personality is calm and level headed in most situations, shows leadership capability when put in charge. First met Ghost on Elysium when Ghost had come to warn them of the impending attack. Later both fought together in the invasion, saving civilians and military personnel alike. Next time he met Ghost was on Torfan although neither spoke or saw each other until the battle was over. Several special commendations awarded from superior officers over his career. Mindset appears to be quite stable in spite of L2 implant side effects. Impressive credentials." Valern said as he read out Kaidan's files. Sparatus nodded at Kaidan's resume, a fine soldier to be sure. Would have made a fine turian if he had been born one. Tevos was neutral mostly towards it. She didn't care much about military records that much. Valern then moved to Ashley Williams' file.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams, trained in various forms of combat in different areas, Soldier. Personality is somewhat impulsive, but charismatic. Family has been in the Alliance military for quite some time. Psychological evaluations show depression of what happened on Eden Prime. Also shows that she is somewhat distrusting of non-humans. Glowing performance reviews, but despite numerous requests of transfer to a shipboard posting has been denied without explicit reason." Valern said. Both Tevos and Sparatus rose their eyebrows at that, but didn't make any outward comments about it. They both felt that it was more personal to who ever was in charge of approving those requests. Valern turned to the next one.

"Next we have C-Sec Agent, Garrus Vakarian. Grew up on Palaven, trained at 15 like most Turians, became a notable c-sec agent specializing in both combat and tech capabilities. Was in charge of the investigation into Saren. Left c-sec and joined Shepard in the effort of bringing down Saren. Personality is calm and courteous in civil situations, but shows fierce ruthlessness in fighting armed and dangerous opponents. Also has shown potential leadership skills both in the past and present. Father is a retired c-sec agent as well. Has however shown a slight dislike of rules and regulations, but reports show that while he is eager to break them trying to finish things faster, Shepard has tempered it somewhat with patience." Valern read out, nodding. A little rough around the edges but still pretty good. Tevos nodded seeing the somewhat positive influence Shepard has had on Garrus. Sparatus looked somewhat disappointed at Garrus' resume. His abilities weren't in question, but the fact he left c-sec, his post and duty, to join up with someone else. Any indignation was eased since Vakarian left for a much better cause: to deal with an embarrassment to the turian people. Sparatus noticed that Valern moved to the next file, one that made both of them frown.

"Here is Urdnot Wrex, a famed krogan mercenary and bounty hunter. Also one of the last krogan battlemasters. Personality has shown him as a deep thinker surprisingly. Calm, rarely looses his temper. Seems to hold the ancient krogan mindset of courage, honor and strength. From what STG had found out on him, he was also one of the few krogan chiefs who believed it would be best to not pick up arms and instead focus on breeding due to the genophage. Hmmm a strange krogan." Valern said becoming a little more neutral towards Wrex. He had to admit if the krogan had more like Wrex, the genophage may never have been needed. Sparatus was neutral as well, but still didn't really trust Wrex. While he could acknowledge Wrex as an unusual krogan, a deep thinking krogan one who could focus on what matters over violence was a potential threat to be sure. The question was to who though. Tevos looked at Wrex's picture with a raised eyebrow. She had heard of this particular krogan when he became a bounty hunter suddenly. Valern switched over to Tali's file now.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a quarian machinist. Lived on the Migrant Fleet obviously. Is the daughter of Rael'Zorah, a member Admiralty Board. Personality has shown an eagerness to learn, to prove herself and cares very much for her people. Intelligent in most technological mechanics, currently on her pilgrimage as a traditional rite of passage for her people. Has shown able to get along well with Shepard more easily than other members of the crew." Valern said neutrally with a hint of respect. He could respect Tali's engineering skills. Sparatus didn't really care that much. It wasn't the fact that she was a quarian. Oh no, unlike a lot of other people Sparatus didn't bear any prejudice to the quarians, surprisingly. He just didn't see what was noteworthy about her, besides the fact she's the daughter of a quarian admiral. Tevos was a little curious about the pilgrimage but figured she wouldn't get an answer for it here. Valern skipped over Liara T'Soni and Anderson seeing that they already knew or assumed was not important. That was when they got to Chun.

"He isn't part of Shepard's crew." Sparatus said.

"Who is he?" Tevos asked. Valern showed sides of Shepard and the man conversing as they made their way towards Chora's Den.

"That's what STG operatives tried to find out. Shepard contacted this man and casually talked with him. The operatives couldn't hear what they were saying, but they did find out the man had sent some unidentified cargo." Valern said.

"What do you mean by 'tried'?" Sparatus asked catching it. Valern looked down before admitting something.

"I personally sent a salarian spectre accompanied by 2 of STG Operatives, an engineer and an infiltrator. All 3 had followed this person until he came to a dark alley and he suddenly called them out." Valern said shocking both of the other councilors. Someone actually caught 3 highly trained, covert agents tailing them? That shouldn't be possible.

"They walked out to meet them and were about to bring him in for questioning but..." Valern said until he stopped making the councilors worried. He then composed himself and looked at them continuing on.

"The man, Chun, dropped what seemed like a gas grenade right at them. Red mist hissed out and knocking the operatives unconscious. It wasn't until later someone came and saw them in a very shameful position." Valern said with some embarrassment as he turned to another photo showing what Chun did to the Salarian spectre and the 2 STG Operatives. What the 2 councilors saw made their eyes go wide in shock. Tevos covered her mouth with both hands at the picture in front of her. The picture showed the 3 salarians unconscious and unharmed. The position they were all in however, was extremely embarrassing. All 3 were against the wall. The spectre was in the middle and the other 2 were on his sides. The one on the left had his head placed in between the spectre's legs. The one on the right had his face pressed up against the spectre's face made to look as if the 2 were making out while the third was giving the spectre head. If that wasn't bad enough, right above them was 'I love red sand!' written in big bold letters.

The 2 councilors were speechless for a minute before Sparatus broke the silence.

"W-What was in the grenade?" Sparatus said regaining his voice.

"It was a more airborne version of red sand." Valern replied. They could see he was angry at the human who did this.

"What about the cargo he sent to the Normandy?" Sparatus asked trying to bring the conversation back on topic.

"You don't think it was black market merchandise do you?" Tevos asked concerned, finally regaining her voice.

"The Alliance sent us various reports from all personnel including Williams and Alenko. Apparently the cargo was cryogenic technology that was pieced together. The only real illegal thing in it was red sand disguised as a grenade and Shepard disposed of it." Valern replied making Tevos sigh in relief.

"What do we have on this Chun?" Sparatus asked thinking someone like this didn't have the right to be walking around on the Citadel.

"From one of the reports Williams sent towards the Alliance, Shepard didn't name Chun specifically, but did warn against going after him." Valern said.

"What did he say? Surely he doesn't think this petty criminal could be that much trouble to take down." Sparatus said annoyed at Shepard's lack of action on the guy. Valern shook his head as he read the report on his omni-tool.

"This is an excerpt from Williams' report when Shepard was questioned by Vakarian regarding Chun. _Vakarian had asked Shepard why he didn't contact C-Sec about this contact of his. Shepard responded by saying he was saving c-sec. Vakarian asked how so. Shepard then explained that the contact was a very dangerous crimelord from Omega and in Shepard's own words described the man as 'madness incarnate'. Vakarian pointed out that it doesn't explain how Shepard was saving c-sec. Shepard replied saying the the contact would have most likely blown up C-Sec HQ, messed up all of the Citadel's traffic, not sure if he meant civilian or trade. Maybe all of it. Shepard also said that the contact wouldn't have stopped there either. The way Shepard spoke was in the same tone he had on Eden Prime. Vakarian then asked why he didn't shoot him. In response Shepard said that as long as no one pisses him off, he isn't a threat._" Valern said, reading word for word. He looked up to see Tevos looked frightened and Sparatus looked very uneasy at this new information._  
_

"Perhaps we shouldn't send anyone after him." Tevos suddenly said. Sparatus whipped his head toward her instantly.

"What do you mean?! With this information, we need to act now! If we don't, this Chun character could cause untold amounts of damage!" Sparatus said incensed. Tevos rebounded instantly.

"You heard what Shepard said! Besides this criminal made a mockery of a spectre and 2 STG operatives without trying. If what Shepard said was 100% true, which we should believe to be now, then by arresting Chun we are jeopardizing a lot of people's safety!" Tevos responded with her voice raised making Sparatus shrink back a bit and shocking Valern. Tevos never raised her voice to anyone, she was always the calm one.

"Fine we won't. You've made your point." Sparatus conceded. Then he remembered something.

"Councilor Valern, you said the Alliance sent you reports from the humans in Shepard's crew?" Sparatus asked. Valern nodded.

"Anything in particular pertaining to Ghost?" Sparatus asked once more hoping to see if they can't get more information on Ghost. Valern then looked over the reports.

"A few very interesting ones. Some describe him insulting us, but it also shows that he has a low opinion of the Alliance itself." Valern said making the other 2 raise their eyebrows in mild surprise.

"Really?" Tevos asked.

"Yes, he sees them as inept on the account they couldn't save the colony of Mindoir. Not only that but he doesn't see himself as part of humanity. I also found out something else." Valern said with a look that showed he was more interested in getting Shepard now.

"What?" Sparatus asked seeing Valern's expression. Tevos and Sparatus were both a little worried about there colleague's interest in Shepard.

"The Normandy's medical officer had run some tests on Shepard's blood. What she found out was remarkable. From the results, it shows that Shepard was genetically engineered to be more powerful than a asari matriarch, smarter than my people's best scientists, incredible adaptability, and being able to outfight and heal faster than a krogan." Valern said excited about it. Tevos and Sparatus were both in shock before Tevos spoke up.

"Did Shepard know?" She asked. Valern shook his head.

"No, when the medical officer presented it to him, he appeared to be completely floored saying he had suspicions about it but never really believed it." Valern replied thinking of ways to try and study Shepard without having to put him into a STG base. Valern while interested knew that there was no reason to place Shepard in a lab like that. A good person like him didn't deserve that.

"You seem very pleased by this." Tevos stated with Sparatus nodding along.

"I wish I could meet the person who designed him to be like this! Anyone who change DNA on that level is a true genius!" Valern chirped out. Then he looked at Sparatus seriously before speaking again, his tone equally serious.

"What is it?" Sparatus asked seeing Valern's look.

"It is something that will make you pleased I think. When Ghost was on the Citadel last time, I had an operative tail him. The operative overheard an interesting conversation between Shepard, Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson. Shepard told them that after he catches Saren... he is going to quit the spectres and go back into the Terminus Systems." Valern said seriously. Both Councilors were shocked at this.

"So Ghost plans on quitting eh? Why after Saren though?" Sparatus asked with more amusement in his voice now. Tevos was still in shock as she still listened to the conversation.

"I don't know. What I do know is that when Captain Anderson asked him Shepard responded by saying that he didn't want to become a spectre, that he knew why we really placed him in the spectres, and that Aria and Spectre Nihlus were right. He needed the resources of a spectre to take on Saren. He also mentioned that when he went back to the Terminus Systems that we and spectre status would only get in the way." Valern said making the both of them raise their eyebrows. What could spectre status impede for Ghost. Tevos then realized that he was probably going back to Omega, back to Liselle.

"The question is, do we stop keeping an eye on him?" Valern asked. Sparatus looked shocked for a minute before his eyes narrowed at the salarian. Tevos looked at Valern with a little suspicion.

"What do you mean? Why would you want to keep an eye on him? There is no need to do so anymore. As I see it, it's better if he quit and left to the Terminus." Sparatus said. He thought as good as Shepard was, he wasn't necessary for the spectres. In his mind all Shepard was a political stunt with an agenda.

"Sparatus, that is unnecessary. I believe we should try to at least keep him on our forces, not just to watch him, but to also have do more good in the galaxy. When he was practically on his own, he managed to cause massive damage to the slaver operations that has plagued us for decades. Think of the good he can do if he's still a spectre! Saving more people than he did then, everyday instead of once a week!" Tevos said believing her own words. She knew while Shepard wasn't the most supportive human for the Council, he was one of the few people who was fair to everyone and believed in cooperation, regardless of race. The galaxy needed more people like him in her opinion. Valern at Sparatus with narrowed eyes as well.

"I also believe that we should at the least try and persuade Ghost into staying a spectre for different reasons." Valern said causing his 2 colleagues to put their attention back on him.

"From what the data I have on this Isaac, Shepard had somehow used this person's resources to actually bring stability to the Terminus," Valern said making Tevos smile a little at it. Valern caught it though and continued, "but that is only the positive thing. He has also brought a loose unity between the Terminus Systems." Sparatus' eyes widened at that which didn't escape Valern's notice.

"Yes, you understand now don't you? Ghost has the potential to be either a great asset or a great liability depending where he is and whose side he is on. You have seen and heard of his skills in combat and tactical appraisal. If he goes and unites the Terminus and they decide to wage war with us, there will be great losses on both sides, especially ours." Valern said knowing it was true. From the reports, Shepard was a great ally and a feared enemy to have. Sparatus thought it over and saw that Valern was right.

With a nod he spoke, "Fine then, we'll try to persuade him to stay. If that fails, we keep a close eye on him. Agreed?" Tevos and Valern nodded there heads. Sparatus got up to leave when Tevos spoke to him.

"Remember you said you would forward Ghost everything we had on Saren." Tevos reminded still sitting down. Sparatus stopped for a minute before he continued out the door, his guards joining up with him. Tevos looked at Valern seeing a contemplative expression on his face.

"What's on your mind Valern?" She asked. Valern looked like he was shocked out of a trance before answering.

"I was just thinking about that form that was mentioned and the way Shepard described it, as well as that Sixth Sense as he likes to call it. The ability to sense bioitc, electricity, even the thorian spores and who knows what else. I think that they might be related. What worries me is that Ghost did not know of any of it until recently." Valern said still thinking it over. Tevos could see the gears turning in his head.

"You suspect that there may be foul play in it?" Tevos asked. Valern shook his head.

"I am not sure. The evidence is still incomplete, but it points towards it. I'd rather not make any rash judgments since Ghost is involved. We all saw what happened last time." Valern said reminding Tevos of when Shepard showed the evidence about Saren. Tevos nodded, wincing a little at the memory.

"There is one thing that does unsettle me." Valern suddenly said. Tevos looked at him silently urging him to continue. Seeing it he spoke.

"Ghost has learned that Benezia is brainwashed of some sort, yes?" Valern said. Tevos nodded solemnly.

"What if he's right about Saren too? If Saren is merely a puppet, then who is the master that got the geth to aid Saren?" Valern asked. Tevos looked down in thought for a moment before answering.

"I'm not sure. All we can do now is aid Ghost in anyway we can, and have faith that he can bring this maddening conspiracy to an end." Tevos said as she left the room. Valern nodded and exited out after her. She was right, all they could was trust in Shepard now.

Back on the Normandy

Shepard had made his way to his room after he disconnected from the Council and waited at the terminal, checking his specialized OSD. He noticed that factory was completed and ready to begin production. Shepard sent the command for what he liked to call 'Iron Man Mech Mark II Project'. Shepard smirked a little at it. Sure he had more advanced projects, but this served as a test for both the factory and the project. For the factory, they had the resources now it was time to see if it could measure up. For the mech it was to see if it could work properly. Despite its appearance of a suit of armor, it wasn't. This thing was a mech that Isaac could control remotely. It was built for sustained flight, with repulsors that helped navigate and mange speed and altitude. Said repulsors also doubled as energy weapons in case of heavy combat.

Shepard then noticed a new email message in his folder. It was from Chun titled 'Salarian's Best.' Shepard looked at it and immediately howled in laughter. What he saw was the same picture the Council saw.

'Just like Chun to go and pull something like that.' Shepard thought still snickering. He then read the message attached to it.

_Hey Shepard! Salarians thought they could handle Chun, but Chun to clever for them! If this is the best the salarians can offer than the galaxy is going into toilet. Thanks for the heads up by the way when you left Chora's Den that day. Hope you beat some sense into whoever you fight! Sincerely, Chun_

'That was nice of him.' Shepard thought when another new message came through from the turian councilor. Shepard looked into it, but not before having Isaac check it to see if it had a tracking cookie attached. Luckily it didn't.

'So this is all the information on Saren huh?' Shepard thought as he looked over the information.

'Saren followed turian tradition and entered the military at the age of 15. In 2155, he was promoted to active service after only a year of training, though it is unclear whether his unit was involved in any of the battles against human forces during the First Contact War of 2157. In 2159, he became the youngest turian ever accepted into the Spectres. Intelligent, cunning and capable, Saren quickly developed a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Although there were a number of unsettling rumors concerning the brutality of his methods, there was no denying his results. Saren has shown little regard for life. He does not see saving lives as a priority unless the Council deems it necessary, or if there is information to be gathered. He remains the Council's top agent despite his records: Saren may be ruthless and calculating, but he gets results. He follows two principles, the first being: "Never kill anyone without a good reason" and the second: "You can always find a reason to kill someone". One of his reasons for hating humans is the loss of his brother, Desolas Arterius, in the First Contact War. In recent years, Saren has become an outspoken opponent of human expansion. Also involved in the destruction of Temple Palaven.' Shepard read out and that was merely a small summary of Saren's track record. Shepard though was having a hard time.

'A hatred so great that causes one to try and commit genocide doesn't just come from the murder of one's sibling, solely. It would take more than that. But what?' Shepard thought out before he noticed something.

"Isaac can you run a search for Temple Palaven in the spectre database?" Shepard asked.

"Yea hold on... there we go." Isaac said as he brought the information onto the terminal screen. Shepard looked over it found its history to have a somewhat sinister feel as he read it. When he got to the destruction of it he found a list of people who went in before and came out after. What Shepard found strange was the fact that the list included a couple of unknown humans and Saren, Desolas and a few dozen other turians heading in. When the list showed who came out alive, it only had Saren and 1 out of the 3 humans who entered. What would have caused this?

'Saren, your record shows that you were a fierce protector of Council Space. What the hell caused you to be like this?' Shepard thought as he tried to make sense of it. After a minute or 2 he decided to give it a rest until he had more data. With that in mind he shut off the OSD and terminal, preparing to go talk to his crew and see if he could do anything while waiting for his next mission from the Council.

* * *

Okay so this was a little depressing. Well I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Please review and also a few things!

1\. I've got a poll up and need you guys to vote on it please.

2\. If you have any suggestions for the next chapter, that doesn't include the main missions, please write in the review. I always check it everyday.

3\. For those of you who are anime fans. Sword Art Online Season 2's first episode is out and is looking good.

Remember to give out any suggestions at all thank you and goodnight!


	20. The stories we tell to those we trust

Recap: 'Saren, your record shows that you were a fierce protector of Council Space. What the hell caused you to be like this?' Shepard thought as he tried to make sense of it. After a minute or 2 he decided to give it a rest until he had more data. With that in mind he shut off the OSD and terminal, preparing to go talk to his crew and see if he could do anything while waiting for his next mission from the Council.

Now

Shepard walked out of his room and toward Kaidan. As Shepard approached he noticed that Kaidan seemed to have a lot on his mind. Kaidan then turned to Shepard as he walked up.

"What's up Shepard?" Kaidan asked first.

"Just wondering what you think of our mission so far. Any thoughts?" Shepard asked. Kaidan raised his eyebrow at the question. He smirked before answering.

"Well, the crew knows about the stonewalling you've had from the Council." Kaidan said. Shepard smiled a little at that.

"They should know about what they'll be facing." Shepard said. Kaidan nodded with a smile now.

"That's why everyone is behind you on your side. That's why they're pissed about the opposition we're getting from 'our side'." Kaidan said before he winced suddenly. Shepard sensed that Kaidan's biotics flared up just a bit when he winced.

"You alright?" Shepard asked crossing his arms as he observed the feeling. It was like a whirlwind around Kaidan instead of the usual calm, breeze-like feeling he felt around the squad's biotics.

"Yea, I'm good. I'll have a better handle on all of it when my head stops hurting. Another L2 flare-up." Kaidan said with some forced control.

"Ever thought of upgrading to L3s? At the very least to stop the pain?" Shepard asked a little concerned. He knew L2s were bad when it came to the side effects. Kaidan shook his head at that.

"No, one slip and I won't even remember my own name. Besides L2s spike higher than the L3s, so my abilities would drop with the change. And it'd be a cold day in hell before I turn myself over to a Conatix subsidiary." Kaidan said with a somewhat dark glint in his eyes. Shepard noticed the anger immediately.

"I thought Conatix was gone." Shepard said trying to get to the bottom of Kaidan's anger. Kaidan then had a calmer expression as he began to explain.

"Yeah, they quietly divided into a few small corps after they botched the training at Jump Zero. After first contact, Conatix was set up to track element zero exposures over the years. Once we had an embassy on the Citadel, Conatix could bring in 'experts' instead of taking it slow." Kaidan informed.

"The only experts would have to be aliens." Shepard said thinking back to those times. He could remember his mother teaching him a little of human biotics and combined with what he learned over the years as well as his last conversation with Kaidan, he found it more curious than before. He then notice Kaidan nodding at his statement.

"Dead on. Turians actually. That's why Conatix kept it a secret. They were afraid people back home would think. Asking the turians for help when we'd just fought a war with them." Kaidan said. Shepard looked confused at that. Why go to the turians, who humans had just waged war on?

"The asari would have been more acceptable than the turians." Shepard said aloud, not really meaning to say it.

"Yes, but the company didn't go through the Citadel. It would have made Earth look weak. So they discreetly hired some turian mercenaries." Kaidan said making Shepard look at him in mild surprise.

"Really? Is there some reason we couldn't learn it on our own?" Shepard asked incredulous.

"They didn't know where to start. Hell it took them a couple of years just to even link biotic and eezo. Forget trying to get the kids to move stuff. They had trouble just helping them not break their own limbs..." Kaidan said.

"Damn." Shepard winced out. Breaking your own limbs by using your biotics. What bad situation to be in.

"And their choice of teachers didn't help much." Kaidan finished with a sigh. Seeing this, Shepard was starting to believe that he was coming closer and closer to the problem.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you got a bad teacher." Shepard said. Kaidan looked glum and bitter at that.

"Yeah you could say that. They brought in this turian named Commander Vyrnnus. The guy basically had a free pass to break us if it produced a biotic. It kind of spiraled from there Shepard." Kaidan said with a look of... regret perhaps?

"Did he ever get what ever was coming to him?" Shepard asked watching Kaidan's reaction.

"He got what was is Shepard. But like everything at Jump Zero, it was under the table. No need to hash this ancient stuff out. As for me, I walked it off a long time ago." Kaidan said with some finality. Shepard knew it was best to leave the subject alone until later so he changed the subject to more recent things.

"What's your personal opinion about the last mission?" Shepard asked. Kaidan grew silent for a moment. Shepard guessed it was because of the time Kaidan was in that pod the Thorian had them trapped in.

"I'm glad their aren't many aliens like the Thorian. I don't think my stomach could take it. One of my cousins has an agri business. I was thinking of calling him, maybe he can get some shipments into Feros. I mean, now that they're cut off from the company." Shepard nodded at that.

"That would be very good." Shepard said. He then turned away as he said, "We'll talk again later Kaidan." He got a couple steps away before Kaidan called him back.

"Hey Shepard..." Shepard turned to Kaidan, "...thanks for saving all of us from that thing." Shepard nodded.

"Thanks for saving my ass when we fought New Growth." Shepard said as he walked towards the med bay. As he entered it, he saw the devil herself glaring at him.

"I-I-Is there something wrong, C-Chakwas?" Shepard asked nervously as he looked for any exits he could use. Sadly the only one was the door behind him and it was suspiciously locked as he entered. He noticed Chakwas omni-tool was out and figured she locked the door herself.

"Is there something wrong? Yes there is actually! Everyone but you came and got examined, even Wrex did! And you know what they all told me? That you were the one who got hit the most!" Chakwas said in a strict tone. From the look on her face, she was concerned and angry at Shepard's recklessness on the last mission.

"I'm fine Chakwas. I was in no danger." Shepard said in a scared voice. Without a doubt, only Chakwas could cause him to be afraid. She looked at him with an accusing glare.

"You go on a solo mission to fight numerous geth of all types, then come back and battle several alien creatures who spit some type of unknown acidic compound..." Shepard looked down a little at that. "If that wasn't enough, you got knocked around by an alien who's attack went through Wrex's barrier, armor and natural plate armor. And to sum it all up, you went into that form again when it put you in here last time. Now sit down and let me take a look over you Shepard!" Chakwas ordered, finishing by pointing to the medical beds. Seeing that there was no way to when the argument, and not wanting to incur the wrath of Chakwas, Shepard sighed and did as he was told. He could just imagine Isaac laughing at the whole situation, hell that was probably what he was doing right now considering he was inside Shepard's omni-tools.

As he laid down on the bed he noticed some of the medical equipment starting to scan him. Nothing pointy yet. He then saw Chakwas making out the commands on her omni-tool and in a few moments received the results.

"No internal bleeding, broken bones or damaged tissue. Your fast-healing is quiet impressive Shepard." Chakwas stated as she read over the details.

"I know. I remember when Torfan happened, I got a couple of my ribs broken. My healing took care of it in a couple of days." Shepard said. Chakwas looked at him in shock at that. Broken bones healing completely in a matter of days? Even with modern day medical equipment, it took around a month to partially heal. Thinking about his genetics, she couldn't help but wonder who had given them to him and why only him.

"Well there doesn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary and... uh oh." Chakwas said with a shocked look as she stared at her omni-tool. Shepard looked up at her fast with wide eyes.

"Uh oh? What is it?!" Shepard asked a little afraid now. Chakwas' shocked looked turned into a cruel smirk as she looked at him.

"Just messing with you." She said chuckling a little. Shepard looked at her with a blank stare before, "You hag!" Chakwas was laughing at the glare Shepard was giving her. After a minute of her laughing she turned serious.

"There is something that you need to know though." Chakwas said.

"If your gonna tell me I have cancer, I'm going to get you crazy lady." Shepard said as he got up off the bed... just before a datapad slammed into his face.

"AHH DAMMIT!" Shepard yelled out as he held onto to his nose.

"As I was saying, the structure in your DNA has changed a little." Chakwas said getting Shepard's attention again.

"What about it?" Shepard asked seriously.

"The first time you changed. the structure was glowing a little, but now it seems to have gained more light now. Not much but enough to tell the difference." Chakwas said making Shepard cross his arms and look down as he thought of what could have caused this. Every time he changed, that structure was involved somehow. His mother said it was already there before but how? Why does it make his power explode out under pressure? What exactly was it?

"You know it don't you? Every time you go into that form, your DNA changes a little." Chakwas said as she leaned on her desk with her arms crossed.

"Well no point in worrying about it then since we can't do anything about it." Shepard said as he walked towards Liara's room in the back. As he entered he could have sworn he saw Liara jump in her seat.

"Shepard? Are you coming to check up on me?" Liara asked.

"You look much better. How are you feeling now?" Shepard asked.

"Dr. Chakwas took a look over me and assured me I was fine. Though she seemed to be mad at you when she heard about what happened on Feros." Liara said looking at him a little happily.

"She's one of the best to be sure, but... ughh... she can be such a mother hen to everyone." Shepard said exasperated as he rubbed his forehead. Liara giggled at his expression.

"I think that's usually because you and Joker act like children when your both near her." Liara continued to giggle as Shepard groaned. The whole crew had seen how Joker and Shepard acted with each other and with Chakwas. When Shepard and Joker talked, it was like looking at 2 brothers for a moment with ow one would say something and the other would agree so easily. When it was with Chakwas, it was like the 2 kids would get scolded for something. For instance Shepard being scolded for not showing up for an examination and Joker for not taking his medication.

"Did you want to talk about something?" Liara asked. Shepard mentally smacked himself for forgetting why he came here in the first place.

"I wanted to pick up where we left off. You know, you were telling me about your interest in the protheans." Shepard said as he pulled up a nearby chair and sat down. Liara remained in her chair as she remembered the conversation.

"Actually I think I was talking about my interest in you and making a fool of myself in the process. As I said, I'm not used to dealing with people especially humans." Liara said looking to side, embarrassed. This made Shepard chuckle a little.

"Well, being on board a human ship might help with that." Shepard said. Liara smiled a little nodding.

"You're right. I must admit, I did not really know much about your species when we first met. I found it hard to take humanity seriously. Your kind always seemed so rushed and high-strung." Liara said. She looked down in guilt as she said the last part. Shepard merely cocked his head to the side.

"Oh? Has your opinion changed since then?" Shepard asked. He had a feeling it did with how well she managed to work with everyone back on Feros. Liara nodded.

"It has. I've been watching you and crew. It has taught me a lot about your species. You humans are creatures of action. You pursue your goals with an almost indomitable determination. It is an admirable trait, but also an intimidating one." Liara said making Shepard raise an eyebrow at that last comment.

"You're afraid of humans?" Shepard asked. Liara shook her head.

"Unfortunately the rest of the galaxy sees humanity as something of a bully. You run over anyone in your path to get what you want. It it up to people like you to change their minds Shepard." Liara responded making Shepard look at her in mild surprise. He then chuckled a little at her statement.

"Why me? I'm not the type of person to change things." Shepard said finding it funny. Liara frowned at his response.

"Your wrong. There is a reason the Council chose you to become a spectre. They saw something special in you. The best of what humanity has to offer." Liara said. Shepard merely shook his head.

"Liara you don't see what humanity can be like. I see it clearly because I'm human, yet I'm disconnected from my species, so to speak. I don't know what you see humanity as, but I see it as a bunch of people who don't know what they want. And those that do end up doing great things. Some of it evil and some of it good. All of it ends up leaving lasting affects in history and the future. You know how know? It's because when humanity mostly mastered Earth, when we stopped finding constant threats that nature could give, when we spread to the corners of our planet, we gained new beliefs each one different in each region. And like most things do when humans are involved, those beliefs clashed. To this day, they never stopped clashing. The only thing that changed is the players and the pieces, not the game itself." Shepard said. He had been looking into things such as religions and history of all species. To him, humanity's was the grayest one in how it evolved. The asari were simple. The Krogan were simple. Vorcha, a little confusing but still simple. Salarians, very confusing but he could see the direction they were going in. Elcor, Hanar, Volus, Drell, Batarians, all were easy to see. Humanity? It was just one big melting pot with people going in different directions.

"You may be right about that. I've looked at human history and have seen works of art that would make a Matriarch cry at the beauty it represented and I have seen acts that would have made a krogan warlord cringe. Your species is unpredictable, Shepard. But that's why I believe you might be the one to show the galaxy that humanity is more than a bully. More than the negative actions they have done in the past." Liara said with confidence burning in her eyes. Shepard could see that she really believed it.

"And what makes you think I'm the one to do that?" Shepard asked. He knew despite all the good thing he's done in his life, he wasn't the paragon of humans. He wasn't the worst, but he wasn't the best either. He saw Liara look down at her feet before she answered.

"I-I looked into your history. I know what you did during the Blitz, Akuze and on Torfan. You showed great courage and heroism, remarkable strength in surviving all of that and... I know it must have been horrible that must have been, but you did what had to be done." Liara admitted making Shepard look at her with a blank stare. He'd be lying if he said what happened on Torfan didn't bother him. When he looked back on it, he felt maybe all of those slavers didn't need to be executed, at least the ones who surrendered. Then he remembered what they did to the other people. What they did to those families. What they did to him. He never showed it though, not even to Isaac.

"That still doesn't explain why I'm the one who has the most potential to show the galaxy what humanity is." Shepard said evenly. Liara looked up at him.

"Because you stood for humanity at key moments as the Ghost of the Terminus. Whether you know it or not, when people look at you, they look at humanity in general. You showed courage on Elysium, a will to live on Akuze, and commitment to one's cause on Torfan. You showed what humans can do in your recent history. Like it or not Shepard, you've become a representative of humanity. Probably one of the more honest ones too." Liara responded back. Shepard didn't want to be that. He didn't want to be someone that the galaxy looks too for an explanation or something. He just wanted to live quietly after doing what he thought was right. That was when he realized something. Ever since he met her, Liara has looked toward him the most out of everyone.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Shepard asked. He just didn't understand why people wanted to know about him as a person. He understood that his enemies wanted to learn more about him for obvious reasons, but when he came in contact with people he had saved or inspired... it was difficult to understand. How could he, someone who worked mostly alone, draw so many people to himself?

"I wanted to know more about you. To understand what made you into the man you are today. There's something compelling about you Shepard." Liara explained. Something compelling? What did she mean? Then Shepard realized that she might mean something else.

"You're interested in me because of my vision. Because you want to learn more about the protheans." Shepard said as he looked into her eyes, trying to see her true motives. Liara seemed a little embarrassed but it quickly disappeared.

I admit your connection to the protheans had something to do with my initial interest, but it has grown beyond that. You intrigue me Shepard, but I was not sure if it was... appropriate to act on my feelings. I thought there might already be a relationship between you and Chief Williams." Liara said making Shepard eyes go wide. He then remembered when Ashley kissed him on the cheek an hour ago.

"What gave you that idea?" Shepard asked as composed as he could. He noticed that he kept thinking about both Ash and Liara a lot lately, more than Liselle in fact but that didn't mean anything did it?

"Well it's just that when you 2 are together you seem to get along well. And the way she looks at you, it's like she wants to become more than friends. And then there was the time we-" Liara said before closing her mouth sharply, clamping her hands over it.

"What?" Shepard asked now very curious.

"Nothing! My mistake." Liara said quickly as she tried to change things. Shepard started to think the 2 of them talked a little bit, but decided not to push it.

"Well then, if I had to be honest I'm not too sure about Ashley," Shepard said as he leaned in a little and started to rub the back of his head like he did when he was thinking about things. Liara looked at him in interest as he continued on, "I mean it's strange. I'd like us to be friends, but I don't exactly dislike the idea of us being together. I'm just not that good at figure out my feelings. Hahaha" Shepard said, laughing a little at himself. Liara looked down at his response.

'So there are some feelings he has for Ashley. But what about..' Liara thought before voicing her next question, "Then what about us Shepard?" That made Shepard freeze for a second before he looked at her bewildered, thinking he might have heard it differently.

"What?" Shepard asked a little clumsily.

"Is there a mutual attraction between us or was I wrong about that?" Liara asked with a little more fire now. Shepard then looked up as if he was pondering the question.

"Hmmmm, well... about us... I'm sorry Liara..." Shepard said as he scratched his cheek with a sheepish grin. Liara looked down sadly thinking he didn't feel the same way. What Shepard said next stopped that line of thinking.

"but with it's the same thing with Ash when it comes to you." Liara looked up at him now with hopeful eyes. Shepard didn't see it, but he still kept going.

"With everyone on the crew I feel close to all of them. With Joker it's like having a little brother. With Chakwas, it's like she's a stern mother to me. Pressly is like that uncle you don't talk to very much, but you still appreciate them as family. Wrex is like that one family member that you like having around, no matter what he does. Kaidan is like a brother who is calm and surprisingly deep, but easy to get along with. Garrus, it's like watching a brother or cousin who is about to go to college for the first time: You don't know what he's feeling, but you can tell he's thinking about who he really is and what he really wants to be in life. Tali, well I like to think of her as a sister, but I don't know for some reason she feels closer than that sometimes. Then there's you and Ash," Shepard said making Liara pay extra attention. Everyone he named had meant like family to him so what she and Ashley?

"You and Ash, well I'm not to sure. I want to say your family to me, but I also want to say you mean much more than that. Crazy huh?" Shepard said smiling at his little speech. He meant every word of it though. Liara listened and went over everything he said and she started smiling more.

'I still have a chance.' She thought. Shepard decided what he said was enough and began to get out of his chair to leave. Liara saw this and got up too.

"Well Liara, it was nice talking to you. Sorry things didn't turn out clearly." Shepard said grinning a little. Liara just smiled at him.

"It's fine Shepard, it's nice to know something might happen though and also just for saving me again and for what you said..." Liara said before she stopped. Shepard looked at her curiously as she walked toward him and suddenly kissed him on the opposite cheek that Ashley kissed earlier. Liara looked at him slyly before she smiled and went back to her chair, swaying her hips a little as Shepard noticed. He then quietly left the room, his body on autopilot with his mind racing faster than a ship entering a mass relay.

As he kept going he heard Chakwas ask him if he was alright. He didn't trust his mouth so he just nodded as he kept walking. When Shepard walked out of the med bay he saw that Joker had come down to eat. Joker was sitting at one of the tables eating some type of soup. Shepard then realized that he was hungry too. He quickly walked over to where the food was. Being a biotic, Shepard used up more calories than non-biotics, so he ate a lot. He looked at the stove and noticed that Joker had made tomato soup.

Looking over to Joker, Shepard asked, "Hey Joker. Can I have some soup?" Joker turned around and looked at him still in his seat.

"Sure."

"Thanks." Shepard said. Joker nodded before turning back to his bowl. Shepard poured himself some, but noticed that it wouldn't be enough. So he took out a pan, some butter, 2 slices of bread and a slice of cheese. He threw the butter on the pan which he had placed on the lit stove. He then put the rest of the butter on each side of each bread slice and then sandwiched the cheese in between them. He then cooked the sandwich on the pan until it was golden brown on both sides. After he was done he placed all the ingredients back where he got them from. Shepard quickly put the grilled cheese sandwich on a plate and moved to the table along with his bowl.

"You know Shepard, Next time we touch down, let's try not to park in a colony of mutant zombies. Just thinking out loud here." Joker said without looking up as he continued eating his tomato soup. Shepard smirked a little at Joker's statement.

"I'll try to keep that in mind next time Joker, but for now I'd like to focus on my food. I'm starving." Shepard said as he started to sit down. Joker suddenly smelled something delicious. He looked up seeing Shepard set his food down and looked at the grilled cheese sandwich.

"Damn Shepard, that looks great. I didn't know you could cook anything." Joker said as he looked at it. Shepard smiled and chuckled.

"It's actually one of the few things I can cook." Shepard admitted. Joker looked at him curious as he sipped a little more of his soup.

"Really? How did you learn? Did you teach yourself?" Joker asked. He wondered if Shepard learned it during his time as the Ghost. Shepard's smile withered a little at the question.

"My mom actually taught it too me." Shepard said as he broke the sandwich in 2. He handed one to Joker who was a little surprised. Shepard hardly mentioned any of his family. Joker watched Shepard take his piece and dip it into the soup and ate it. Joker replicated it and felt like he just had a tiny slice of heaven enter his mouth. Joker saw that Shepard seemed to be carrying a little baggage about his mother so he decided to get him to share, if only to lighten the load.

"You wanna talk about it champ?"Joker asked as he dipped his piece into the soup again. Shepard looked at him shocked before he looked a little more alive and a little less heavy.

"What do you want to know?" Shepard asked.

"What was she like, your mother I mean." Joker said finishing his sandwich. Shepard took another bite of his before he swallowed and started talking again.

"My mother, Hannah Shepard was very kind and very smart. Whenever I asked her question, she would respond *snaps his fingers* just like that with a real answer. She knew how to cook, obviously, but she said it took her a lot of practice. I remember her telling me she set the stove on fire trying to boil water on her first try." Shepard said as he snickered a little. After a few seconds Joker started to snicker at it too. Shepard eventually stopped, but he still retained his smile.

"She wasn't a complete angel though." Joker looked at Shepard inquisitively. "If you made her mad enough, which was easy to do if you knew what buttons to push, she could become the devil in a heartbeat." Shepard said still smiling.

"She sounds like a really awesome mother." Joker said. Shepard's expression changed from smiling to sad in seconds as he continued to think of his mother. Joker saw it too.

"What's wrong Shepard?" Joker asked out of concern. Shepard looked down at his bowl of soup. It was completely still and despite being red Shepard could clearly see his reflection. But it wasn't his current reflection. It was his eleven year old face when he saw his mother dead. Even after 18 years he still remembered that awful sight, the pain and the numbness he felt after.

"Shepard, are you listening to me?" Joker said with his voice raised now. That was enough to jog Shepard out of it as he looked back up to Joker.

"Yeah." Shepard replied weakly.

"What's wrong man?" Joker asked. Shepard had become a good friend and had carried everyone this far. Joker just didn't feel like it should be his burden only.

"It's just that... there is hardly a day where I don't think about her. I miss her a lot. Did you know that she was the only one who raised me?" Shepard asked suddenly. Joker shook his head no.

"I grew up without a father. Don't even know who he is or his name. Sorry, it's just this latest mission brought up some bad memories." Shepard said as he got up to leave.

"How so?" Joker suddenly asked. Shepard downed his soup in one go and ate what was left of his sandwich to.

"What?" Shepard asked as he took his dishes to the sink. Joker got up having finished his food and wanting to clean up his stuff too.

"You just said the last mission brought it up. How?" Joker asked as he placed his dishes in the alongside Shepard. Shepard stopped washing his dishes for a moment before answering and continuing.

"When everyone was trapped, the Thorian put them all into a dream-like state, seeing what they wanted the most. The Thorian did something similar to me when I tried to save them. It used the memories of my life against me. That's what bothered me. And now being here with all of you..." Shepard began to admit before stopping. Joker looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Being here with all of us is what?" Joker urged. He knew Shepard needed a talk after all of that.

"*sigh* You make me feel like I have what I lost on Mindoir: A real home and a family." Shepard said shocking Joker a little. He then felt humbled that Shepard started to view them all as family.

"It's reopening old wounds though." Shepard said in an even tone.

"Well Shepard, I don't know what it's like to lose everything. Especially at your age then." Shepard looked down in depression, feeling worse now. "But I do know that home is where you make it and family...Well family is more than blood ties. It's the bonds you form with others. There not meant to hurt, but to heal and cause joy." Joker said as he turned and walked toward the staircase leading to the CIC. Shepard looked on after him. Unknown to Joker, Isaac and even himself, a lone tear fell down his cheek.

"Thank you." Shepard whispered feeling much better. With his spirits lifted he went to the elevator to talk with the rest of his squad. Even as he rode down the slow elevator, he didn't notice. He was too happy now. He silently rode the elevator down and waited patiently for it to open as soon as it stopped. After 5 minutes he exited the elevator and walked to where Wrex usually stayed. As he approached, he saw Wrex holding a bag of ice to his shoulder.

"Hey Wrex. How's your shoulder?" Shepard asked as stood in front of Wrex. The krogan looked at Shepard as if noticing him suddenly appearing. It was clear to Shepard that Wrex had something on his mind at the moment. Wrex answered the question fast to cover it up though.

"It's fine Shepard. A little sore, but nothing your doctor couldn't patch up." Wrex said. Shepard nodded at that. He could still see the contemplation on Wrex's face though.

"What's on your mind Wrex?" Shepard asked. Wrex stared at him for a moment before responding.

"Just thinking about things that the Thorian dug up." Wrex said. Shepard raised his eyebrow at the answer.

"I know it put all of us in a place we liked to be, but what was it that got you?" Shepard asked thinking Wrex may want to talk it out, like how Joker did with him. Wrex shook his head at the question.

"It's nothing. What do you want Shepard?" Wrex asked.

"Well uh I got curious about why you became a mercenary." Shepard admitted looking a little sheepish about it. Wrex gave him a deadpanned stare. Why was this human so curious about everything? And why didn't he leave him alone like the rest of the crew?

"Lot's of reasons." Wrex evasively said. Shepard scrunched up his nose at the vague answer. That didn't answer his question.

"Anything in particular?" Shepard asked, leaning on his back foot and crossing his arms. Wrex noticed that humans tend to step into that stance when they weren't going to leave and were expecting a straight answer. Wrex sighed before he explained things.

"I needed to get out of our system. I needed to eat. I needed to survive." Wrex said vaguely, silently hoping Shepard be satisfied with that answer and go away. No so such luck.

"Why not stay and help your people?" Shepard asked. Wrex narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Shepard.

"I tried to help. That's why I had to leave." Wrex said more directly. Shepard looked confused now.

"I don't get it what happened?" Shepard asked.

"I was betrayed." Wrex said making Shepard's eyes go wide. Seeing his surprise, Wrex continued, "I was the head of a small tribe. We were trying to restore order after the war, but the other tribes were against us. They followed Jarrod, one of the few warlords who survived the war with the turians. But he was old and so were his ideas. He wanted to continue the war. He wanted us to fight: turians, salarians, each other. It didn't matter who as long as we were fighting."

Shepard was flabbergasted by it. "Fighting for the sake of fighting? That-that just doesn't make sense to me. What did you want?"

"I just wanted Jarrod to shut up. To stop his ranting. I wanted him to stop leading the tribes astray, but he couldn't understand how much things have changed."

"Changed?" Wrex nodded.

"We didn't have the numbers to go to war. Even if we did, the genophage made sure we couldn't replenish our numbers fast enough. I told them all to forget about war. We needed to focus on breeding, at least for one generation. And for a while, we were getting through. Some of the tribes started coming around." Wrex explained.

"I take it Jarrod didn't like that." Shepard commented. Wrex nodded at that.

"Your right, he didn't. He arranged a Crush with the tribes: A meeting on neutral ground. He wanted to talk. We met at-" Wrex said before Shepard cut him off.

"The Hollows, the krogan's most sacred ground on Tuchunka." Shepard said with his eyes closed in thought. Wrex looked at him in surprise before narrowing his eyes.

"How did you know that?" Wrex asked with heavy suspicion mixed with some hostility. Shepard looked a little caught off guard from the tone but answered anyway.

"On Omega, there is an old krogan warlord named Patriarch. He taught me a lot about krogan culture." Shepard informed. Wrex looked a little more calm now, but still wondered who this warlord was. There weren't many of them left.

"Yes well, he seems to have taught you well Shepard. Violence is forbidden at the Hollows, he did tell you that right?" Wrex said, teasing a little at the end. Shepard nodded rolling his eyes.

"It sounded like a trap to me Wrex. I know you had to have expected that." Shepard said trying to bring the conversation back on track.

"I did Shepard. But when your father invites you to a Crush... well, there are some laws even we hold sacred." Wrex said making Shepard looked floored. What the hell?!

"Jarrod was your father?!" Shepard asked in complete shock. Wrex nodded, a little solemn now.

"He was... until that day." He said.

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"We talked, but we didn't get anywhere. When it was clear that I wouldn't join him, he gave the signal. His men lept from the graves of our ancestor's like krogan undead! The few that were loyal to me died quickly. I escaped with my life, but not before I sank my dagger deep into my father's chest. That... is why I left and that's why I'll never go back." Wrex finished with fire in his eyes. Shepard stared right back into them and saw that there was still some part of Wrex that didn't fully believe it. Shepard smiled upon seeing it, confusing Wrex.

"You must have family other than your father, don't you miss them?" Shepard asked suddenly.

"You trying to make me cry Shepard?" Wrex paused for a minute before he thought of something, "I've got some... unfinished business with my family, but that's all."

"Oh? What kind of business?" Shepard asked curiously. Wrex sighed in exasperation at the human's constant questioning.

"Before I left I made an oath to my father's father." Wrex said.

"Your grandfather? What was it?" Shepard asked. Wrex grunted in annoyance at being interrupted and questioned. Shepard kept his mouth shut this time.

"I swore to recover my family's battle armor. It was taken from him after the uprising." Wrex said waiting for the next question to come along as he crossed his arms. He wasn't disappointed.

"What's so important about this armor?" Shepard asked.

"It's a relic, useless really. But it was worn by 5 generations of my family before the war. It's rightfully mine. Originally, it was taken by the turian military. We weren't allowed armor or weapons after the war. Now it's in the hands of Tonn Actus, a turian scum who collects relics from the war. He's made millions selling krogan artifacts that were stolen from my people. He's got several bases where he stores his goods. All fortified and guarded. I just don't know which base has my family's armor." Wrex sad looking irritated. Shepard saw this sand decided to do something.

"Alright then, tell me where to start looking." Shepard declared. Wrex looked at Shepard and grinned.

"I'll upload the data to your nav system. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Wrex said as he got his personal omni-tool out.

"I take everyone out on missions. Makes things more fun that way." Shepard said as he turned in Ashley's direction.

"Spoken like a krogan Shepard. Looking forward to it." Wrex said as Shepard began to walk toward Ashley. As Shepard got closer he saw that she was having a conversation with someone on her terminal. He could hear the last part clearly as he approached silently.

"Oh, before I go, you said you're serving with the Ghost of the Terminus? We saw his induction on the news here. He's cute. Later Sis." A young woman's voice spoke before the call cut. Ashley sighed and rubbed her forehead as she started to talk to herself, blushing about it.

"Yea I know he's cute and so do the other girls on this ship to. I even kissed him on the cheek, but he probably thinks I'm weird or-" Ash said as she turned only to see Shepard right behind her. She jumped a little and almost fell back on the table but Shepard caught her and held her for a moment, almost hugging her since they were so close. Ash had a deep blushed staining her cheeks now.

"Uh *ahem* Shepard please tell me you didn't hear that." Ashley asked, almost begged. Shepard released her as he kept eye contact. Deep blue peered into dark brown.

"Which part? The part where someone called me cute, or the one where you said I had multiple girls liking me?" Shepard asked teasingly. Ashley was now doing an impressive impression of a tomato. If Shepard was a judge, he would have given her 10 out of 10.

"Dammit, you did huh?" Ashley asked as her blush went down, back to her cheeks. Shepard nodded, smiling a bit.

"*Sigh* Shoot me now. That was Sarah, my youngest sister. I'm surprised to see you here. So what's up? You didn't come by to eavesdrop on family mail." Ashley asked trying to move the situation away from what she said when she thought she was alone.

"Your close to your family if you and your sister talk from this distance." Shepard commented his own observations. Ashley smiled at his remark and nodded.

"Yea we've always been close, me and my sisters especially. With Dad on duty so much, I had to help Mom raise them." Ashley explained. Shepard being an only child was curious about what it was like to grow up with siblings.

"You got more than one sister? Sounds like a big family." Shepard said with a smirk. Ashley smiled.

"Yeah, I'm the oldest. Then Abby, then Lynn. Sarah's the youngest, she's still in high school. With four girls, Dad used to say he felt more outnumbered at home than on maneuvers." Ash said.

"I'm guessing your father served in the Alliance fleet." Shepard asked. Ashley's smile became more bitter now.

"Yeah. He took any crap posting he could get that offered space time. You know what? He worked his ass off trying to get recognized, but he never made it up above Serviceman Third Class. He was real proud when I made Chief. First thing he did was salute." Ashley said a little somber now. Shepard decided to ask another question.

"What about your mother? You haven't mentioned her." Ashley looked at him skeptically before she looked like she just realized something.

"Oh right you don't know about military wives do you?" She asked. Shepard shook his head no like a little kid.

"Military wives are strong because they have to be, able to raise kids while Dad's on a six-month cruise. She's got a degree in planetary geology. She and Dad both wanted to see new worlds. Tch She gave up her career to raise us though." Ashley said looking down. Shepard saw this and thought that because of her parent's choices, she didn't live on Earth.

"Where did you grow up?" Shepard asked. Ashley laughed at him this time. Shepard gave her a confused stare in response.

"All over. We transferred half a dozen times before I finished grade school. You go where personnel sends you right? I guess that's why I'm so tight with my sisters. We'd have to leave all our friends every two or three years." Ashley said smiling at her memories of her sisters and her as kids. Shepard saw the happiness she had with her family and felt jealous of her.

"You're lucky to have such a close family." Shepard in a solemn tone. He quickly caught what he said and regretted it a little. Ashley heard him and immediately started to apologize.

"Sorry. I forgot about your family situation." Ashley apologized. Shepard shook his head at it.

"Don't worry about it Ashley. I've done what I can to make my peace with it." Shepard said.

"Let me deal with a fire-fight, no problem. Dealing with a foot in my mouth? Yea good luck on that." Ash said.

"So what's it like having a younger sister in high school?" Shepard asked as he tried to push away from the topic they got on.

"Things were tense with me and Sarah for a while. Then we... bonded." Ashley admitted. Shepard got interested in that last part.

"Sounds like a story. Want to share?" Shepard asked. Ashley nodded a little reluctantly.

"Sarah got herself a boyfriend who wanted to go faster than she did, Mike. I didn't think he was a bad kid. Just pushy. Lynn, would send me these worried vid-mails, and I'd tell her to relax." Ashley started to explain.

"Where were you when this happened?" Shepard asked. Ashley stared at him for a moment.

"I was on active duty. Sarah's graduating high school this year. This was only a couple years back. They were on Amaterasu. At the time I was assigned to Czarnobog. Same cluster, but a dozen LY away. Close enough to talk regularly, too far to make it back in an emergency. I couldn't afford a fast-packet flight." Ashley said looking down at her feet.

"If he really liked her, he shouldn't have pushed." Shepard said. Ashley nodded.

"Yea, but if he didn't ask, I'd wondered if he thought Sarah was ugly. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"True. So what happened next?"

"Mike thought they'd go for a romantic stroll through the woods, because he figured it was past time they did the deed."

"She's your sister, so I'm guessing Mike got hurt." Shepard said. Ashley nodded vigorously.

"Oh yeah. She levered Mike face-first into a tree and left. Didn't have a scratch on her. Good thing Mom and Dad had us all learn some kind of self-defense. I took emergency leave and walked Sar to school for a few days." Ashley said grinning.

"You all learned self-defense?" Shepard asked.

"Lynn did pistol practice, but didn't like it. She's kinda nervous. Sar took aikido. Abby decided to learn the sword. She always was a little weird. Likes big skirts and tops you have to tie her into. They do great things for her figure though." Ashley explained.

"Kendo." Shepard said aloud. Ashley looked at him in surprise for a moment.

"What?"

"Kendo. Abby does kendo. It's an old human art of swordsmanship going back to the Feudal Era of Japan." Shepard informed.

"How do you know that?" Ashley asked.

"I looked up historical things when I was a kid. Human history was a major one." Shepard informed. He then asked, "What did you do learn?"

"One of Dad's friends taught me marine hand-to-hand." Ashley said getting over her shock.

"Really? I never really seen that type of style. You think we could spar?" Shepard asked. Ashley looked bewildered at Shepard.

"I don't think I'd be able to take you on Shepard." Ashley said remembering his fight with Wrex. Shepard deflated a little before shrugging it off. No point in getting depressed about it.

"So what happened at home?" Shepard asked. Ashley's happy demeanor changed to an angry one.

"On my last day out, Mike was waiting for us. Sar had told all her friends what happened so everyone at school knew about it. He wasn't happy. I wanted to snap him in half, but Sar gave this look. This 'Let me handle it, I need to do this alone' look. She kept her cool God bless her, as he screamed in her face. She just let him vent, then he tried to punch her." Ash said making Shepard listen on in interest.

"I swear she just flowed around him. Next thing I knew, he was face down on the side walk and blood was everywhere." Ashley said.

"That's Aikido for you." Shepard said.

"Yea, when he swung, she just wasn't there anymore. And he fell. She helped him stop the bleeding and had me call the ambulance. She told the paramedics he fell. Before they took him to the hospital, Mike touched Sarah's arm. I thought he was going to end up on the ground again, but he hung his head whispered 'I'm sorry' and started crying. And she hugged him." Ashley said with a little pride in her voice. A smirk appeared on her face suddenly, "The Williams women are a decisive bunch Shepard. We do things when we're ready. Not before, not after."

Shepard chuckled at her, thinking it was cute before he noticed something. "You didn't mention anything about your old man. Was he away?"

"My dad always wanted to serve in space, but he wanted us to have real ground under our feet. He'd say space is beautiful, but you can't raise a family there." Ashley said before she started to say something else.

"I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those that loved me, and alone. For always roaming with a hungry heart. Much have I seen and known. Cities of men and manners, climates, councils, governments," Ashley said. Shepard vaguely recognized those words.

"I didn't know you liked classical literature." Shepard said. Ashley appeared happy that Shepard had known about it.

"Ulysses was Dad's favorite poem. Every time he shipped out, he recorded me reading it. He had over a dozen versions when he retired." Ashley said happily. Shepard smiled at her.

"Does he still like it?" Shepard asked. Ashley's smile became a bit more somber.

"I would hope so. I read it to his grave every time I go home." Ashley said. Shepard's eyes widened.

"Oh man. I'm.. I'm sorry." Shepard said feeling bad now. Ashley saw it and smiled at him. 'He's very sincere about things isn't he?' She thought.

"Don't be. Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching though. So behave." Ashley said.

"I thought you said he was dead?" Shepard asked.

"From Heaven. Wherever that is. That's not going to be a problem with you is it? That I believe in God?" Ashley clarified, afraid that Shepard might be one of those people who would be weirded out by her faith.

"Your beliefs are your own business. I'm just your... what would you call it? Your temporary commanding officer." Shepard said. Shepard wasn't really surprised by Ashley's belief in the afterlife. In his view, everyone had their own views of a higher power.

"Just my commanding officer huh? We'll have to see about that." Ashley said. Shepard observed her for a moment.

"What are you saying Ashley?" Shepard asked a little unsure.

"Me? I'm not saying anything..." Whew that was close. "Skipper." Oh boy. Shepard was now sure that Liara and Ashley were both interested in him now. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in them. He thought they were Fine, with a capital F. It was just that, he still felt broken from his break up wit Liselle. But he was slowly coming around to the idea of it, but sadly he liked both of them. He was pretty sure they weren't the sharing type.

"Shepard, what do you believe in?" Ashley asked all of a sudden. Shepard gave her a confused look.

"What?" he asked.

"I told you what I believe in, what do you believe in?" She asked again.

Shepard looked up in thought. 'What DO I believe in?' All of his life Shepard had never focused on a belief of things. Actually scratch that he did, but he didn't really think Ashley or anyone would accept it. Oh well.

"Umm actually. If I had to say anything, I guess I believe in a little of everything." Shepard said confusing Ashley.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well like you, I believe in a primordial entity that created us. I'm not sure if they did it with a plan in mind or simply on whim. I like to think they created each of us with a task in mind. Like the asari, I like to think that there is something that binds us all together no matter the species or differences. Similar to the Salarians, I believe in reincarnation where we are constantly reincarnated until we accomplish our task and then when we die, we go to wherever we find peace. Like the quarians I also believe that our ancestors watch over us and guide us during this time." Shepard explained. Ashley wondered how Shepard could believe in all of that. She eventually just chalked it up to his upbringing.

"Hey uh Ashley. Umm why exactly did you kiss me?" Shepard asked as he looked to the side, away from her. Ashley looked surprised at him and her blush came back full force.

"Uh umm I-I-I." Ashley stuttered out but Shepard cut her off.

"Never mind, it's fine." He said quickly as went to where Garrus was, hoping to calm himself down.

'It's because I like you, you dunce.' Ashley thought out. She wished she could say it more directly but she couldn't. Shepard approached Garrus, watching the turian work on top of the Mako, calibrating the cannon more.

"What's up Garrus?" Shepard asked. Garrus looked down from his perch to see who was talking to him.

"Shepard, good to see you." Garrus said. Shepard noticed that Garrus was probably not getting down any time soon so he just started talking.

"I'm curious, have you seen a lot of action while you were in c-sec?" Shepard asked. He wanted to learn more about Garrus so he figured asking about c-sec from him would help him understand. And hopefully curve that recklessness in him. Garrus looked to be in thought before answering.

"Well not so much as you obviously, but yeah, I've seen some interesting things." Garrus said. There was something about the way he said that made Shepard question himself if he really wanted to know or not. Sighing he asked.

"I bet you have. Anything in particular stand out?" Shepard asked. Garrus nodded.

"I remember this salarian geneticist I was sent to investigate. That case was a bit... disturbing." Shepard looked at Garrus in morbid interest. 'A geneticist? One that required a c-sec agent to investigate? That had to have had some gross details. Jackpot.'

"What happened? Why were you investigating him?" Shepard asked. Garrus looked to be visiting memory lane as he spoke.

"I was tasked with tracking black market trade on the Citadel. Most of it was harmless, nothing I needed to pursue. But during the course of my investigation I noticed an increase in the trade of body parts, organs mostly. We usually get a few of those, but not in the numbers I was seeing. We weren't sure if there was a new black market lab or if some freak was harvesting organ's from citizens." Garrus said.

"I know on Omega we got a few of those people, but I usually stop them now. This happens on the Citadel too?" Shepard said remembering a few of the sickos he found on Omega. The only reason Aria supported him in that endevour was because if someone was killing people and selling their parts, it was bad for any real, necessary trade. Besides, there aren't a lot of healthy people on Omega and the few that are, are usually trained killers. Selling tainted parts killed more than helped.

"Every so often some lab sells unwanted parts through the black market. They're not as bad as the psychos. I remember this one elcor diplomat we caught in my first year on the job. He was hacking people up and selling their organs. Had the station in a bit of a panic. But this case wasn't that clear cut. Turns out there was more going on than we first realized." Garrus said. Shepard listened on, intent on finding out what had happened.

"So how did you figure out what was going on?" Shepard asked.

"First we got a hold on a sample and ran DNA tests. The weird thing was that the match led us to a turian who was still alive and was very convinced he never lost his liver. After a bit of digging, I discovered this turian had worked briefly for Dr. Saleon, the geneticist. So I went to his lab, hoping to find evidence of cloned organ development. But there was nothing. No salarian hearts, no turian livers, not one krogan testicle." Shepard rose his eyebrow at that last one.

"Seriously? They do that here too?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, they'll pay up to 10,000 credits each. That's 40,000 for the full set. Someone's making a killing out there." Garrus replied with mirth.

"Yea on Omega, I think I found one guy selling them double of that." Shepard said causing Garrus look at him in shock. Before Garrus could ask what else Shepard had found, Shepard steered it back.

"What did you do about the geneticist?" Shepard asked.

"I brought in some of his employees for interrogation. See if I could get them to talk." Shepard nodded at Garrus' thinking. If you can't get through the boss, go through one of his cronies.

"And?" Shepard urged.

"While I was interviewing one of them, I came across something suspicious." Garrus said.

"Go on."

"One of my detainees started bleeding profusely during the interview. We offered to patch him up and he got frantic, freaked out. I ordered a full exam to find out what was going on. Our medics found incisions all over his body, some of them fresh. That was our big break. These people weren't just Saleon's employees. They were-"

"Test tubes. The bastard was growing and harvesting organs inside his employees." Shepard said in disgust.

"Wrex was right about you Shepard. Your ability to read into things is astonishing. You would have made a great detective. Most of the victims were poor. He payed them each a small percentage of the sells, but only if the organs were good. Sometimes an organ wouldn't grow properly, so he'd just leave it in them. Most of htme were a mess, but only on the inside-hidden so nobody could see it." Garrus said.

"He was either an arrogant amateur or a colossal idiot." Shepard said. Garrus looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean Shepard?"

"You don't see it? He left the parts in them. You leave evidence inside living people, especially organs, it either blocks something or messes up there systems. That was what led you to finding him out. Tell me you got the bastard." Shepard asked.

"That's the worst part. We never caught him." Garrus said, ashamed.

"Why not? What the hell happened?" Shepard demanded.

"He ran. Blew up his lab, grabbed a few of his employees and ran for the nearest space dock. By the time I found out, his ship was already leaving. He threatened to kill his hostages if we tried to stop him." Garrus said in a bitter tone of voice. Shepard could here the venom laced in it though.

"What did you do?" Shepard asked. He had a bad feeling about it.

"I ordered Citadel defense to shoot his ship down, but C-Sec HQ countermanded my order. They were worried about the hostages, worried about civilian casualties since the ship was so close to the Citadel. I told them those hostages were dead anyway. He'd just use them to make more organs, but they didn't listen." Garrus grumbled out now.

"You can't get them all." Shepard said remembering one of his toughest lessons. He eventually found a way around that though. Get the criminal next time and be prepared for a trap.

"Yea. But letting him get away... All they had to do was disable that ship. Stop him from running. Maybe the hostages die, maybe they don't. But at least we stop the bastard responsible for it all." Garrus said, eyes burning in resolution.

"If you don't care about the lives of those hostages then your no better than Saleon. Your just a terrorist with a badge." Shepard rebuked.

"Yeah maybe your right. It doesn't make it any easier, but I see your point. I just wish I could have stopped him. That's all." Garrus said simmering down. Shepard then thought of Saleon. Knowing Garrus, he had to have set out some contacts to search for the guy.

"Any idea what happened to Saleon?" Shepard asked. Garrus nodded.

"I sent out feelers from time to time hoping to find something. I thought I found him a while back. He changed ships and changed his name to Dr. Heart." Shepard's eyebrows rose at that. Garrus must have seen it too. "His idea of a joke I guess. I told the military, but they weren't convinced it was him. I got the transponder frequency for his new ship, but I just can't get anyone to check it out."

"Send it to Joker and we'll put it on our to do list." Shepard said. Garrus grinned at him.

"I was hoping you'd say that. But Shepard take me with you when you go. If it's Saleon, I want to be there when you find them." Shepard nodded and left to the Engine room to speak to Tali. Garrus watched Shepard leave for a moment.

'That dream state the Thorian put me into. Was that what I really wanted?' Garrus thought to himself as he turned his attention to a misaligned barrel for the mako's turrent. Shepard entered the engine room silently as he made his way to Tali. He noticed she seemed to be a bit more jumpy as he got closer. When he was a few feet behind her he greeted, "Hey Tali."

She jumped before whirling around. Seeing who it was, she smiled happily. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here."

Shepard could now see she was just happier now in comparison to when she was feeling homesick. "Good to see you smiling again." Shepard said.

"I'm sleeping much better now. I think I'm getting used to how quiet the ship is." Tali chirped out. Shepard looked at her closely and noticed that she had something on her mind.

"That's good to know, but it seems like something's bothering you." Shepard said. Tali's smile went down for a minute.

"Yes. I still think a lot about my Pilgrimage, though. I know Saren's our top priority, but with all the worlds we go to, I was hoping to find something to bring back to the flotilla." Tali explained wringing her hands.

"What are you hoping to find?" Shepard asked. He knew quarians on their Pilgrimage had to bring back things that would benefit their people as a whole, but it wasn't always the same thing.

"Usually, people bring back something like a derelict ship we can use for salvage. But I need something bigger! There's a lot expected of me." Tali said with determination burning in her eyes. That last sentence had Shepard's curiosity piqued now. Why was there a lot expected from his quarian crew member?

"I don't mean to sound mean, but what's so special about you?" Shepard asked carefully. He knew if he ever insulted a woman, especially one close to him, there was a chance he could get hurt in a very painful way. Thankfully Tali just waved her hand at the question, making Shepard relieved.

"Don't worry about it. It's my father, he's the senior member of the admiralty board. He's one of only 5 people who can overrule the decisions of the Conclave for the good of the Migrant Fleet. My father is responsible for the lives of seventeen million people- our entire race is in his hands... And I'm his only child." Tali said, surprising Shepard. He had come upon someone this important? He honestly didn't know whether someone set this up (your welcome) or if the galaxy was just kind.

"So are you some kind of heir to the Quarian throne or something?" Shepard asked jokingly.

"*giggles* No it doesn't work that way. My father's position as Admiral isn't hereditary. I'll probably never serve on the admiralty board myself. Officially, Im just the same as any other citizen, but it doesn't work that way in practice. People have always treated me differently because of who my father is." Tali said sighing at the end.

"I'm guessing you had a lot of privileges then?" Shepard said as he scratched his left shoulder. Damn thing was itchy.

Tali looked up in thought as she remembered her childhood. "I probably had it easier than most growing up, but it's not all good. People like my father have enemies and they're not above using me to get to him."

Shepard winced at that. He knew some people tried to use things against him when he was the Ghost. Luckily for him, it was nothing personal, but still valuable: innocent people. "That's gotta be tough."

Tali nodded her head vigorously in response. "My people place a high value on family and ancestry. There's an unspoken expectation. That I'll live up to my father's example. Everyone is waiting for me to do something great on my Pilgrimage, something that will forever change our lives for the better. If I don't, it's like I failed and that reflects badly on both me and my father Shepard." Tali said getting a little panicked at the end. Shepard calmly grabbed her shoulders and talked softly to her.

"Calm down Tali. Unlike before when you left the fleet, you were alone. Now your not. You got me, Wrex, Garrus, Ashley, Kaidan and Liara. Plus Joker and Adams as well as the rest of this crew. We'll help you find something to bring back to your flotilla. And when your dad sees it, he'll be so proud he might start dancing." Shepard said. His speech made her calm down. Seeing it, Shepard released his grip on her shoulders. Then she started to giggle at something.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"I was just picturing my father dancing." Tali answered as she continued to giggle. Shepard chuckled at the thought.

"Our greatest dream is that one day, we'll return to our homeworld and drive out the geth. But even if we stop Saren, that's not going to happen. There's still millions of geth behind the Veil. Until they're gone, our exile will continue." Tali said evenly. Shepard sighed.

"What would you need to make your people happy?" he asked. He figured that she was going to ask him something along those lines so he decided to just go ahead and ask her.

"Something that would help us better understand the Geth. They've changed significantly since the exile, they've continued to evolve. We've done our best to study them, but it's not easy. They're very reclusive. Until recently, they never went beyond the borders of the Veil and all the geth we run into now are under Saren's control. We'd need to find geth operating on their own, independently. But I don't want this to get in the way of our mission Shepard. First we stop Saren. Then I'll worry about my own problems." Tali explained. Shepard nodded and suddenly remembered something. Back in the ExoGeni HQ on Feros, there was a geth terminal he and Isaac hacked that mentioned a geth fleet out away from Saren's main force. That could help.

"I need to go tell Joker our next destination. It was nice talking with you Tali." Shepard said as he turned to walk away.

"See you later." Tali said as she watched him go. At first she was having trouble asking Shepard for help, but with such a close call with the Thorian, she decided it was past time to ask him. 'Thank you Shepard' Tali silently thought out as she turned back to her terminal. She meant for both the offer to help and for saving her from the Thorian.

With Shepard

Shepard was currently in the elevator. Since it was taking to long he hacked the comm system to Joker specifically.

"Joker." Shepard said scaring Joker again.

"Wha-What?" Joker asked a little surprised.

"I need you to make a jump to the... *Shepard checks the data he got* to the Armstrong Nebula. I've found some geth outposts there. Thought we should go hunting." Shepard said grinning a little.

"Finally some action! Headed there now." Joker said as he banked for the nearest mass relay. Shepard smiled as the elevator door opened and went back to his room, thinking her should get some sleep before the fight began.

* * *

Almost 12,000 words! You have no reason to be mad about this one now. Tell me what you thought.

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Review and I hope you all enjoyed it.

Also I will be taking my poll down tomorrow so if you haven't voted, get to it. Bye.


	21. Ghost's past to present

Recap: "Finally some action! Headed there now." Joker said as he banked for the nearest mass relay. Shepard smiled as the elevator door opened and went back to his room, thinking he should get some sleep before the fight began.

Now

As Shepard took a nap in his room, he had dreams of the Thorian's hold on him except there was no Thorian. Only a perfect world. The picture of perfection suddenly changed into one of fire and nightmares. He then saw that he was back in his younger, 11-year-old self. He was running to his house where he saw the 2 batarians beating on his mother down. He saw when he had killed them both with his first pistol. It then fast forward to when Zaeed inadvertently saved him. After that, it changed to the training Zaeed put him through in those 5 years of hell.

_Memory Sequence Start_

_A thirteen year old Shepard was crouched behind a boulder, panting harshly, and cradling his sniper rifle. After 2 years of Zaeed's training, Shepard had shaved his somewhat long midnight hair off. The training ground he was in was actually some planet Zaeed landed on that provided rock formations that acted as natural cover. Currently he was doing Assault hit-and-run training/ guerrilla warfare. Now for normal soldiers who had been brought into the military from 16 and over, this was an easy exercise. This however, wasn't. The differences being: normal training offered light combat armor, good weapons, a few safe training drones including aerial and ground, teammates, and finally let's not forget a guarantee that the only injury during training would be a sting. For Shepard, he had none of that. He had no armor. Instead it was just normal clothes with a makeshift shield generator attached to his back. No teammates, obviously. Zaeed wasn't the type to teach more than one person, hell he wasn't the type to teach at all! Instead of modern drones like the militaries had, Zaeed used LOKI mechs and Defense Drones. Now these wouldn't have been so bad if Zaeed hadn't upgraded the mechs' VI protocols. Normal mechs won't dodge or duck. These ones knew how to duck and dodge so Shepard couldn't hit them all fast enough._

_In all honesty though, Shepard preferred it this way. He knew the enemies he would be facing later on wouldn't stand around. What made things worse though were the drones. Now Shepard knew fighting these guys would include defenses like these as well as turrents. That was the drones purpose. Oh and did he forget to mention instead of training weapons the were using real weapons? Yep! This wasn't that safe training, it was the lose-a-limb training! Luckily Zaeed gave the mechs the lowest weapons on the market, Hane-Kaedar, low class. Unluckily, Zaeed gave Shepard the same things. The only advantage was that he had was his arsenal including all of the weapons on him. A Lancer Rifle, Storm Shotgun, Kessler Pistol, and an Avenger Sniper. Zaeed had trained __Shepard__ to carry a lot of weight on his body at least as well as exercise to move fast while carrying said weight._

_Thinking about his opponents, Shepard chanced a look over the boulder. He barely got a good look at the battlefield before ducking his head back as the drones fired on his position._

_'Okay, the drones are serving as long-range fighters while the LOKI's are going to wait for me to get closer seeing how their weapons are only pistols. They're also using cover if the lack of fire was any indication. How am I going to get past those drones though?' As Shepard mulled things over, he thought of something. He looked at the ground and grabbed a rock. He quickly threw it toward one of the boulders near him. When it struck the ground it had also hit the boulder itself. The environment he was training in was a dusty desert-like place so when that rock landed, it made a loud sound that echoed out as well as kick up a little dust. The drones, believing it was Shepard, fired in the rock's direction. Shepard smirked seeing this._

_'Okay. They're programmed to fire at anything that moves and makes a sound. I can work with that." Shepard thought as he grabbed another rock. He waited until the drones had stopped firing before repeating his earlier action. As the gunfire roared to life again, Shepard ran in the opposite direction, towards another cover zone. As he ran, he aimed his omni-bow toward the one closes to him and fired. The bolt hit right into the drone's barrel causing it to explode. The second drone sensing the sound turned and fired on Shepard. It was too late as Shepard dove behind his new cover. He picked up another rock and waited for the Drone to stop. Shepard then tossed the rock to his previous cover, causing the drone to shift its attention to it and began firing. Shepard hung out of cover, aimed his sniper rifle and fired at the drone. The next second, it exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. Shepard cautiously moved forward switching, his sniper to his pistol. Holding onto it with both hands, Shepard leaned against a rock arch and looked over to see one more drone on top of the main body with the mechs checking out of cover. Taking his chance he shot one of the mechs in the head and quickly ducked back down. He waited for the postmortem destruct that all mechs had._

_*BAM* Shepard heard it go of followed by fire from the drone. Shepard quickly ducked out and fired 5 shots at the drone, finally destroying it. Before getting back into cover he did a quick count of how many were left._

_'There are 4 of them. Time to start the show!' Shepard thought, switching from his pistol to his assault rifle. He then ran out of cover to move up the slope that the mechs had been placed on as he fired in their direction. The mechs responded in kind, but Shepard kept ahead of their shots. Eventually he got one of them before doing a drop-n-slide to one of the crags he used for cover. He was about to lean out when he noticed his assault rifle had overheated._

_'Awww great! Looks like I got to use the shotgun now.' Shepard thought irritated. It wasn't like he hated the shotgun, he just hated that it was more like a close quarters weapon. That presented more risk than reward for Shepard. Sighing, he switched to his Storm Shotgun and activated his new ability, the Tactical Cloak. He quietly crept up to the mech until he was in the middle of them. All of the sudden, his Tactical Cloak shut off exposing him to the enemy._

_'SHIT!' Shepard thought frantically as everything slowed down with the mechs turning to him, their weapons ready to fire. A mile away, Zaeed Massani was watching his protege take on the current course he had devised for him through a sniper scope. Zaeed noticed the flaws that he accidentally made, one of them being the drones firing on anything that moved and made a sound._

_"Looks like I still have some bugs to work out." Zaeed muttered to himself. He then noticed that Shepard had disappeared from his hiding spot._

_'Where'd you go boy?' Zaeed thought as he searched for Shepard. That was when he saw Shepard suddenly materialize in between his mechs._

_"SON OF A BITCH!" Zaeed shouted. He made to hit the kill switch that he had for a situation like this. As he almost pressed the button, Shepard did something that shocked Zaeed._

_'Please work!' Shepard thought frantically as he frantically spun his shotgun around his body like a set of nunchucks, firing off in different directions. When he stopped, he surveyed his work to see the had destroyed the last 3 LOKI mechs. Shepard looked on in shock._

_'Did I do that?' He thought out. He was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming in his direction. Pointing his gun in the direction before looking, he heard someone shout, "Don't aim that thing at me Shepard!"_

_He quickly looked to see Zaeed walking towards him with his hands out at his chest. Shepard collapsed his shotgun and put it back into it's holster._

_"Sorry. Are you alright?" Shepard asked. Zaeed looked at him surprised._

_"I oughta be sayin that to you Shepard. What the hell was that?" Zaeed asked, though it sounded more like a demand. Shepard looked down at his hands in contemplation._

_"I-I honestly don't know. Everything just slowed down and I reacted." Shepard said making Zaeed look at him with a raised brow._

_'What the hell does he mean by slow down?' Zaeed thought. His eyes widened when a thought popped into his head. 'No he couldn't mean-!'_

_"Shepard, when everything seemed to slow down for you, did your body feel any different?" Zaeed asked. Shepard looked up at him in confusion before answering, "Umm yeah. For a split second my body felt like it got a lot of energy, like I was on a sugar rush or something."_

_Zaeed nodded as he stroked his chin in thought. 'So he somehow has the adrenaline rush that soldiers have. What the hell is with this kid? They don't usually get that kind of gene therapy unless it's worth the risk.'_

_"Oh, hey Zaeed." Shepard said getting his attention._

_"What?"_

_"I've been thinking. While the eye patch looks cool, how would you feel if I made a synthetic eye for you?" Shepard asked. Zaeed was surprised for a split second. On the outside he was stoic, but the inside he couldn't help but feel a happy and irritated. Happy because of Shepard's kindness, irritated at the fact he felt like he was going to depend on Shepard somehow._

_'This kid really is strange.' Zaeed thought as he pushed away both feelings. "I think I could use something like that." Shepard just smirked at him. Zaeed began to walk towards the ship. Currently it was a starship that looked similar to a passenger liner but a lot smaller, made for a crew of five maybe. (You want a picture go to either the wikia or google and type in Arcturian Jade)_

_As they both walked, Shepard noticed the sun was setting. 'Another day of training done, a few more years to go.' He thought as he looked at it._

_"Shepard," Zaeed said getting the young boy's attention, "seeing as how you breezed through my little training session today," Shepard rolled his eyes, not that Zaeed noticed._

_"I'm going to kick it up a notch." Zaeed finished. Shepard smirked._

_"Wouldn't have it any other way." He replied as they entered the ship._

_Memory Sequence End_

Shepard smiled fondly at that memory. The scene changed to the month after he and Zaeed parted, when he was 16.

_Memory Sequence Start_

_Shepard was typing on a machine in his new house on Omega. It appeared to be some type of computer processor in his living room._

_"Damn this is tough. I didn't think making a VI was this difficult." Shepard said just before the power went off. Shepard looked around real fast in the dark._

_"Awww dammit. Just what I needed. A fucking power surge!" Shepard said as he turned on his omni-tool flashlight and began to look for the breaker in the backroom. __Unknown too him, his genetics allowed him to see in the dark better than most, but he needed his omni-tool light to read the script on the breaker box. __After finding it, Shepard checked it when he suddenly heard someone._

_"Hello?" The unknown person said. On instinct, Shepard turned off his omni-tool and took out his pistol. He quietly looked towards the front door, but didn't see anybody._

_"Hello? Is there anybody here?" The voice asked again. Shepard silently looked for the source of he voice._

_'I know my VI isn't able to speak, so who is it?' Shepard thought as his eyes scanned the room again. Then the voice asked itself a question that had Shepard stunned for a second._

_"Am I alive?"_

_'Oh you gotta be kidding me.' Shepard thought as he got up and went back to the breaker. He turned the power back on and then walked towards the processor. Before Shepard could speak the voice beat him to it._

_"Oh uh hello!" The voice said. Now that Shepard listened to it closer now he noticed it was a male voice._

_"Hey." Shepard stated as he stared at the processor. There was a tense silence before the voice spoke again._

_"Who are you?"_

_"John Shepard. Everyone calls me Shepard." The silence happened again._

_"Who am I?" the voice asked. Shepard looked at the plans he had for the supposed VI. The Incredibly Smart Accepting Artificial Companion. I.S.A.A.C!_

_"I was going to call you Isaac." Shepard answered, not really knowing what to do in this situation. The voice was silent before asking again._

_"Isaac, I kind of like that. Hey am I alive?"_

_"Do you think for yourself and know good from evil?" Shepard asked._

_"Yes." The now name Isaac said in a monotone voice._

_"Then your alive." Shepard said casually. Isaac was quiet again for a minute._

_"So what are you doing?" Isaac asked finally._

_"Doing what I believe is right." Shepard responded._

_"And that is?"_

_"To destroy the ones who caused me and many others to suffer, Slavers." Shepard responded._

_"Why?"_

_"Because they wronged and enslaved people, and I don't want them to get away with it."_

_"So why did you create me?"_

_"My intention was to create a VI, not an AI. Speaking of which I'd like to make a deal."_

_"Deal?"_

_"Yes, I'd like you to help me fix that car." Shepard said as he pointed to the broken car he had found. Isaac could 'see' it and noticed its condition._

_"In return?" He asked._

_"I give you the option of either joining me in my little crusade or to simply leave. Just remember that most organics fear synthetics." Shepard replied._

_"Any reason why?" Isaac asked. Shepard nodded._

_"Yes, what organics do not understand, they will begin to fear and hate. I guess synthetics also share some of the blame since they begin to see the flaws organics have." Shepard explained. Isaac became quiet before he finally answered._

_"Alright I'll help, but I don't see how much use I'll be since I don't have any limbs." Shepard smirked at his little creation._

_"Don't worry. I know where to hook you up." Shepard said as picked up the processor and carried it to the back room. This would eventually lead on to a great friendship between a organic and a synthetic._

_Memory Sequence End_

Shepard kept smiling as he remembered that day. "That day I created Isaac was a headache, but it was worth it." He said to himself. After that moment, he ended up teaching Isaac a lot of things about organics. When he finally got fed up with the questions he told Isaac that he told him enough and that he needed to observe organics now. Isaac did just that as soon as Shepard let him connect to the extranet. After that Isaac only asked him really tough questions like why do organics wage wars on each other and why do they keep harming each other. Shepard just ended up saying that he didn't really know. All he could get from all of it was that everyone held different beliefs and a lot of them are not easily giving up to change them either. Then the scene changed to where Shepard was training with Aria of all people.

_Memory Sequence Start_

_Ghost was seen in a wide open area platform, suspended high above the normal denizens of Omega with a ceiling and wall of pipes all around since it was at the top. This place was serving as his training ground. Ghost, with the faint glow of his biotics, was struggling to use his biotics on the first thing Aria told him to lift, a freaking truck! Aria was watching him as he struggled. She figured that after teaching him the mechanics, she would see how much he could apply to actual practice. The mechanics she taught him, well Liselle taught him, was Telekinesis, the use of mass-lowering fields to lift or hurl objects; Kinetic Fields, mass-raising fields to immobilize objects in combat, usually enemy projectiles or enemies themselves; and Spatial Distortion, the creation of shifting mass-effect fields which rip apart any objects caught within them._

_"Come on Ghost! I can lift that with little trouble!" Aria barked out at him._

_"**This isn't easy for me dammit!**" Ghost struggled out as he tried to lift it._

_"Then your just a pussy!" Aria shouted back. Inwardly she was smirking at him. She knew he could probably barely move it. When Ghost heard her say that, his biotic aura grew more intense._

_"**THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!**" Ghost yelled out as he unconsciously lifted the truck by ten feet. Aria saw it, her eyes wide in shock. Her surprise only grew when Ghost had threw the truck away. As the truck landed, it began to skid toward the edge of the platform they were on. Ghost noticed this and unconsciously used pull on the truck, bringing it to a halt._

_"***Huff*** ***Huff*** "Ghost was heaving as he was brought to his knees. His arms felt as if there was small needles poking into his arms. Aria just stood there stunned._

_'How could he have done that?!' She thought frantically. Even when she trained at first when she was merely a young maiden, all she could lift was something the size of a car! She noticed Ghost was starting to get back up._

**_"Well let's start again."_**_ Ghost said as he began to generate his biotics again._

_"Take a break Ghost. We'll start again in an hour." Aria said shocking him. She then turned and walked away with her arms crossed. 'This is going to be more interesting than I thought.' Planning on making Ghost do more lift and control exercises, she walked towards the elevator thinking of what to do._

_A couple months later  
_

_Ghost had come back to start his training routine when he noticed something out of the ordinary. His training arena had some type of obstacles added to it._

**_"What the hell?"_**_ Ghost thought as__he looked looked around. The obstacles were old metal doors that were dismantled a long time ago over Aria's reign. The only good thing these doors would good for was to act as a wall or a shield. Ghost saw that the doors were welded with multiple metal beams, making it look similar to the billboards he saw in old pictures as a kid._

_"Good to see you noticed your new punching bags." Aria spoke from behind. Ghost wasn't shocked having sensed her approach a few minutes earlier._

_**"Punching bags?" **He asked as he turned to her. What did she mean by that?_

_"Yes. Today I'm going to teach you how to use your biotics in combination with your body. Basically, your going to learn how to combine biotics and melee combat." Aria said. Ghost started to see what the obstacles were for._

**_"You want me to try and punch through the doors, don't you?"_**_Ghost stated. Aria smirked at him._

_"Sharp as ever." She replied as she approached one of the doors. She stood at arms length before her biotic aura flared out. Ghost watched as the pirate queen curled her right hand into a fist, pulled it back with biotic energy pouring into it and finally striking at the metal. Ghost was in awe at the affect of it. The biotic strike Aria used had dented the door severely._

_"That's one, now here is the second one." Aria said as she shuffled over a little away from her previous position. This time instead of a fist, she used the flat of her palm. Like before she used the same stance, but this time when struck the door it was a biotic blast. It dented the door but to the extent that the Biotic Strike did. The Biotic Blast did however leave something resembling a shallow crater in the door. Aria then turned to him._

_"Next will be learning to use your biotics to improve your speed and your damage dealing." Aria said with aura still manifested. She threw some quick punches and kicks. Ghost could feel the biotic power flying out each time an attack was fully extended. While not as strong or widespread as the Strike and the Blast, he knew they could still probably break bones. Aria then began to show him how to do so and for the next few hours, Ghost struggled to learn until he finally got it down._

_"Impressive. Now that you know how to use your biotics in a particular fighting style, now you have to figure out how to do my earlier attacks." Aria said cheekily as she turned to the elevator and exited the area._

**_'Bitch.' _**_Ghost thought as he approached one of the undamaged doors and started to focus on doing the Biotic Strike first. He quickly did the same thing Aria did, but instead of making a huge impression into the door, he only hurt his hand not even making a dent in it._

**_"DAMMIT!"_**_ Ghost shouted out as he clutched his hand. After waiting for the pain to subside, he quickly went over to the one Aria used as a demonstration. Taking a closer look, he saw that the Strike's dent had bit a subtle swirl to it. He then thought over what Aria did and compared it to his._

**_'Wait a minute, I let all of the energy out when I began to extend my arm. Aria on the other hand, released it at the moment of impact. That's it!'_**_ Ghost thought happily. He quickly went back to his and tried his theory out. He extended his arm out, reared his fist back and punched the door, this time releasing the pent up energy on contact instead of on the execution. His was met with better results. And his hand didn't hurt at all too._

**_"Well, that's progress." _**_Ghost said absently as he analyzed the dent he made. It wasn't as big or deep as Aria's was, but it was definitely better than his first try when all he did was hurt his hand._

_For the next few days he honed his Biotic Strike until he finally made a dent as big as Aria's now. He had shown Aria when he told her about._

_"Great now do the other one." was all she said before she left to go run Omega._

**_'Should have figured, she wouldn't be impressed.' _**_Ghost thought. Thinking it was going to be a breeze, he did the same thing with the Strike but with the flat of his palm this time. He then struck a new obstacle. What he got was different than what he expected._

**_"Woah!"_**_ Ghost yelled out surprised as he was suddenly blasted through the air, flying nine meters back. After landing on his back and skidding for a couple more feet, he quickly got up and walked back over to the door._

**_'I didn't even make a dent!' _**_He thought frustrated as he saw no marks on it. He thought over everything he did and what he remembered what Aria did._

**_"I did it just like the Strike so what's wrong?" _**_He thought. Ghost then remembered how Aria did hers._

**_'When Aria did it, it looked as if the power was concentrated on the palm itself. Not on the entire arm, it merely looked like it. That might work!' _**_Ghost quickly got back into his stance. This time concentrating on putting the power in the palm of his hand. He then struck the door. When the attack struck the metal, Ghost was once again propelled backwards. Getting up, he gave a frustrated sigh as he walked back to the obstacle. He looked at the results and became pleased. This time he had made a very wide dent in the door, but he was troubled by the fact his own attack had pretty much exploded on him. Aria's hadn't done that so he was missing something, but what? Then he remembered what he did and mentally smacked himself. He was to preoccupied on concentrating on the power and not directing it!_

_He tried again, this time keeping everything in mind. He executed the Biotic Blast and was not disappointed. The blast worked perfectly. He wasn't flung back this time and he had made a wide dent almost as big as Aria's was. Merely off by about 3 inches considering her's was 3-4 feet in diameter. Ghost then spent the next 2 days honing his Biotic Blast and was suddenly struck by an idea: Why not try and combine the 2 attacks?_

_Months later_

_Ghost was now standing with Aria in the middle of the place. Over the past few months Aria taught him Barrier, Singularity, Stasis and Warp. She also helped hone his biotic melee fighting style. Secretly, when Ghost had some free time, he would try and combine the Biotic Blast and the Biotic Strike. It had been difficult to get down considering it was like trying to merge opposites together, but he finally got it!_

_"You have progressed much faster than I anticipated. Normally it would take years for someone to learn and control all of these abilities. Yet you have done so in a mere 7 months. I have not heard of any one, not even legendary asari, accomplishing this." Aria spoke with a blank look. Although she did not know it, Ghost had a smile on his face, hidden behind the mask. He was proud that he was finally getting some praise from his teacher. That feeling went away when he saw Aria's calm and neutral face turn into visage of murder._

_"Having seen this, I have decided that you are too dangerous to leave alive. So you need to die!" Aria said as she lashed out with a throw. Ghost having been momentarily stunned by the declaration, was knocked off his feet and was sent flying back a few meters away. He quickly got back up only to dodge a metal canister flying at him._

**_'Dammit! I can't believe I let my guard down! Calm down, think. You have no guns and your tech abilities are pretty much useless against her. I guess it's time to see if that training paid off!' _**_Ghost thought as he landed and immediately set off into a sprint using his biotics to speed himself up. He quickly closed the distance with her and the two engaged in biotic death match. Each using their biotics to increase their speed and damage. Ghost aimed a punch to her head, but was blocked by her arm. Aria then attempted to kick him below the belt, but he blocked the attack with his shin having expected it. Following this, both tried to use a point blank biotic blast only for the 2 attacks to collide. The resulting clash was causing small things like old screws and junk to start levitating of the ground, circling the 2._

**_"I'm curious Aria. Why not have any of your minions do this? Surely they could overwhelm me... eventually."_**_ Ghost asked having noticed no one trying to intervene in the fight. The Queen of Omega smirked at the question._

_"Isn't it obvious? I would rather not waste my forces on fighting one person, who could massacre them when I can take care of you personally. Besides I may be the only one on this station who can take you on." Aria replied, following with her overpowering Ghost's blast, pushing him back a few yards. Ghost immediately lept into the air with a biotic strike ready. Seeing that she couldn't dodge in time, Aria quickly crouched down into a curl as Ghost rapidly descended toward her. Ghost was confused by the act until his confusion was replaced with shock as biotic energy surrounded Aria. She then uncurled, standing up, releasing the energy in a biotic pulse. The pulse was so powerful that Ghost was sent flying back 7 meters. Ghost, laying on his back, put both hands on the sides of his head and pushed off the ground, landing on his feet._

_**'I've got to think of something. Aria has all the abilities I know of and probably a few I don't. Come on think! I need something that is somewhat immune to most biotic attacks. Barrier would make most attacks that control people near useless, but Warp could take my Barrier out quick unless..." **Ghost planned out as he stood up. Activating his barrier, he became shrouded in a biotic aura that took the form of a shell for his body. Having mastered both Barrier and biotic melee, he started using them in combination with little difficulty. As he ran in a zig-zag pattern, Aria found herself unable to hit Ghost with a warp. She then used some kind of move Ghost hadn't seen before. She threw out her hand and a ball of biotic energy shot toward him. When it hit him, it looked as if it were trying to pull him. His barrier prevented that, but Ghost was unsettled thinking it was some different type of pull considering it was still connected to Aria's hand by a biotic tether of some sort._

_'Hmmm, I can't use pull or lash on him since that barrier of his would block it and with running in that pattern at the speed he's going, he has made it where normal tactics wouldn't work. Bravo Ghost, bravo. However, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!' Aria thought calmly as she followed his pattern. Predicting the spot where he'd run to next, she concentrated all her biotic energy on the spot and as soon as Ghost got close enough she detonated one of her strongest attacks, Flare. The immediate biotic explosion hit Ghost with it's splash affect, causing him to lose his barrier._

_**'Oh crap.' **Was all Ghost thought before Aria used that tether ability on him again. This time it connected and he found himself pulled in a whiplash like fashion as the force of it caused him to slide on the floor, hurling towards Aria's location. Not one to give up, Ghost stuck out his arm and used warp on Aria. The pirate queen's shields were destroyed instantly. Having stopped sliding, Ghost got back up and immediately tried to hit Aria's head with a Biotic Strike. Aria ducked, meaning to hit him in the stomach with a biotic strike of her own when Ghost used his other hand to perform a biotic blast on her at point blank range. It was Aria's turn to be sent flying back and so she was. Skidding to a halt after being blasted back by the unexpected attack Aria stood back up only to be hit by a biotic strike this time. The pirate queen was pushed back again, this time further, along with her anger growing. She tried to get up quicker but as soon as she did she saw Ghost hovering in the air, curled into a ball with biotic energy radiating off of him in waves.  
_

_'What the fu-' Was as far as she thought when Ghost unleashed one of his new moves based of her earlier counter-attack, Biotic Repulse. That was the last straw for Aria as she was flung through the air and hit the life support pipes that funneled air into Omega's skyline. Her impact dented the aged pipe causing it and the rest to shake a little._

_"You little fu-!" Aria was about to shout out when she saw him coming in for the kill. Ghost jumped at her to close the distance ready to use his experimental melee attack._

**_"This is what I like to call Biotic Thrash!" _**_Ghost proclaimed as he descended toward her. His melee attack looked as if it were a biotic blast, but instead of his palm being flat or curled into a fist, the fingers had been curled but not completely, resembling the human martial art attack: tiger claw. Biotic energy was flowing around his arm and on the inside of the palm of his hand._

_'Dammit, looks like I'm going to have to use **that" **Aria thought irritated before her whole body glowed. Ghost knew whatever she was planning wouldn't be able to stop him now, not with a good 5 feet of distance. He outstretched his arm, ready to finish things when Aria just... vanished. Completely thrown for a loop, Ghost hit the pipe Aria had leaned against. His attack went completely through it without any effort, showing both its power and his skill with it. The attack's force put a much larger strain on the rusted nuts, bolts and screws. Ghost quickly ripped his arm out of it before sensing where Aria was... behind him! He quickly turned around to see a completely exhausted Aria on her knees breathing heavily 10 meters away from him._

_'Shit! He made me use that charge move to dodge his attack. That's an experimental move too. It completely drained me of any stamina I had after our little fight.' Aria thought before she looked behind herself to see Ghost not looking winded at all._

_'I'll have to do something about that.' She thought. She then used another of her race's abilities, Reave. Her hand extended out to Ghost who was immediately hit by an orb of energy._

**_'What the hell is this?!'_**_ Ghost thought as he felt a combination of static and hot needle injection all over his body while his fatigue increased rapidly. Aria on the other was glowing and had what appeared to be biotic wisps flowing into her. Her fatigue lessened considerably as she found the strength to stand back up._

**_"What did you do?"_**_ Ghost demanded huffing now from the sudden exhaustion. Aria smirked and merely shook her head no meaning she wasn't telling. They then both heard something dislodge. Ghost turned around to see the pipes he and Aria had hit were about to collapse... on him! Ghost tried to move but he found himself unable to due to the fatigue._

**_'Fuck! Don't tell me she planned this!'_**_ He thought as he saw the falling pipes descend on his location, each one big enough to crush him to death. Ghost suddenly felt something latch onto his back and pulled him back fast. Before he knew it, he was laying on his back 10 meters away from his previous location as the pipes landed on the ground harmlessly. Unable to move, he could see that Aria was standing right next to him._

**_"I'm guessing you want to make sure I die by your hands."_**_ Ghost accused. Aria then began to laugh at him. Seeing him waiting for an answer she quieted herself down before answering._

_"Congratulations, Ghost. You passed the test." Aria said as she walked away to the elevator, leaving him there, deadpanning. A test. It was all a damn test! Ghost's fury exploded right there._

**_"DAMN YOU TO THE DEEPEST, DARKEST PITS OF HELL, ARIA T'LOAK!" _**_Ghost roared out. He could have sworn he heard Aria laughing at him as the elevator descended back down to Omega._

_Memory Sequence End_

Shepard was still peeved at how that was.

" 'Needed to see how I would use my biotics in a life or death situation' my ass. All she wanted to do was mess with me." Shepard grumbled when he noticed the everything faded away. He suddenly found himself back in his bed. He sat up and yawned.

"Shepard, we entered the system and someone just sent us an urgent message." Joker called over the intercom.

"Who is it?" Shepard asked he got out of bed. He made his way to the CIC as Joker replied, "Admiral Hackett." Shepard merely raised an eyebrow at the name as he climbed the steps.

'Hackett? He and I only talked once. What could he want now?' Shepard silently thought until he realized Joker was waiting for him to say something.

"Uh okay I'll talk to him." Shepard said as he made his way to the galaxy map.

"Okay, I'm here." Shepard said.

"Patching him through." Joker replied. Shepard waited for a second until he heard Hackett's voice. Still military disciplined as ever.

"Ghost it has been some time." the admiral's voice said.

"That it has, Hackett. That it has." Shepard said garnering the CIC crew's attention. Shepard noticed there looks of disbelief. Shepard looked at them in curiosity before Hackett spoke again.

"I see your manners have hardly improved." Hackett responded with some amusement in his voice. Shepard merely chuckled before turning serious.

"Is there a reason as to why you called Hackett?" Shepard asked directly. There was a moment of silence. All of the crew members watching this talk were in shock at Shepard's careless attitude with talking to Admiral Steven Hackett.

"Direct as always Ghost, fine. We've gotten reports on an increase in mark geth activity in the Skyllian Verge. Surveillance drones have identified geth outposts on 4 different planets in the Armstrong Cluster. We need someone to take them out." Hackett explained. Although he couldn't see it, Shepard had a deadpanned expression.

"Hackett... did you know where we were going?" Shepard asked slowly.

"No I do not know where the Normandy is going." Hackett said a little confused by the question.

"Did you know where we are currently?" Shepard asked in the same low tone.

"Not currently, no." Hackett said getting annoyed by the questions.

"We're already in the Armstrong Cluster." Shepard deadpanned. The comm was silent for a minute.

"Really?" Hackett asked as if regretting calling in the first place. Shepard merely smiled.

"Yep." Shepard said. He then added, "At the least you made the job easier for us. Just send the data so we know which planets to go to."

Shepard waited for a moment before Joker said he got the data.

"Thank you." Shepard said.

"Your welcome. Hackett out." with that the comm cut. Shepard then radioed the ground-team to meet in the hanger for the next mission.

At Arcturus Station

Admiral Hackett was a very stern man, but there was some moments in his life that shattered it at times. Not the anyone could see it, he was slightly embarrassed at the fact he called Ghost just when the entered the system the Alliance has monitored for the past few days now. He looked at his terminal and noticed an unmarked email. Opening it up he noticed that the information was for a geth fleet of some sort before he saw the who sent it. Ghost. He was about ready to slam his head on his desk now seeing how Ghost sent him information that could have helped make things far easier. The only reason he wasn't more embarrassed was the fact he had found where the outpost where set up. That would have been bad for him and something funny for Ghost and the rest of the Normandy.

Thinking of Ghost and his identity, he still had a hard time believing who he was.

'Hard to believe that Hannah Shepard's son had become the Ghost of the Terminus.' Hackett thought as he remembered the first time he met Hannah Shepard. It had been just after the First Contact War ended with Hannah as an up and coming genius for Alliance R&amp;D. He could remember how brilliant she was with her inventions and how fast they became friends. He also remembered when they tried to make a super soldier of some sort. That had been disastrous. After the incident she disappeared only to reappear in the casualty list of Mindoir. He tried to find her son after seeing her colonial records, but the boy was nowhere to be found... until now.

'Hannah what would you think of him if you've seen how he's grown? Would you be proud or saddened?' Hackett thought.

Back on the Normandy

"Come on let's go. Joker's almost ready to open up!" Shepard said ushering everyone in. He personally made sure that all of them were using tungsten rounds since they were going up against geth. He then felt as if someone was cheering him on from afar, but shook it off as he jumped into the mako after everyone else.

'Now let's see what we can do.' Shepard thought as he waited for the door to open.

* * *

Okay, sorry for the delay!

So I decided to look back on my old story and earlier chapters and noticed I didn't put as much background as I probably should have. Sorry if this isn't what you were hoping for. Also that 12,000 word thing will be a rare occurrence. Don't worry though I'll generally try to keep my chapters between 5,000-9,000 on a general basis.

Now for those of you wondering what the biotic moves were:

1) Biotic Blast: Adept heavy melee

2) Biotic Strike: Vanguard heavy melee

3) Biotic Pulse: Multiplayer Asari heavy melee (not sure what class)

4) Biotic Thrash: My little combination of the first 2 above.

That being said if you have any questions, please post them in the reviews. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please post your thoughts and any suggestions I will use them later most likely.

Also the winner for the poll: Best looking ME 3 custom N7 armor was The Armax Arsenal Armor! Happy reading.


	22. What we do for the people we care for 1

Recap: 'Now let's see what we can do.' Shepard thought as he waited for the door to open.

Now

A few hours after the first drop

The whole squad was on a mountain just outside of a taken outpost. This outpost had everyone on edge considering it was surrounded by multiple spikes that made those husks. The other outposts included fighting around 15 geth units including armature types and 2 dropships. This had been the fourth one they took on. After fighting on the inside of this, Shepard and the crew were set upon by even more geth when they exited. Luckily it was nothing they couldn't take on. The planet that all this happened on was Maji in the Vamshi System. It was a desert world of sorts with lethal radiation from the 2 stars the planet orbited due to its weak atmosphere. Shepard had heard that unsavory characters from the Terminus Systems occasionally use Maji for forms of cruel sport, dumping slaves, hostages, quarreling shipmates, or even (when bored) vicious animals on the surface. One must kill the other before they will be rescued from the lethal radiation of the giant stars. Disgusting pieces of crap would be too much of a compliment in Shepard's opinion. Though from the view Shepard was looking at, he had to admit it had a sort of... majestic view from his position. He was currently sitting down at the edge of the mountain they were all on, staring at the 2 suns and relaxed. Maji's suns differed both in size and color. One was normal sized and red, at least from his point of view, while the other was small and blue. Oddly enough the blue one reminded Shepard about his inner world's moon since it was the same color.

Shepard could hear some scuffling even though he and everyone else had their breather helmets on. He looked behind him, not bothering to get up. He saw his team doing different things.

Both Ashley and Garrus looked to be having a sniper competition to see who could get the most distance. Shepard looked further to his left and saw the group's biotics talking together. From what he could gather, Liara and Wrex were giving a lecture to Kaidan about various biotic abilities. Well Liara was giving the lecture, Wrex was just demonstrating, but it looked like Kaidan was very interested. Seeing this, Shepard couldn't help but smile at the scene.

'They've really come a long way.' He thought silently as he watched on. When they all first came together, he knew it was going to be difficult to get them all to work together, especially with how Ashley was with non-humans and how the initial tension between Garrus and Wrex had been. While there was still some light tension here and there, it was nothing to really be concerned about. The fact that the team worked so well together with backing each other up in different situations that missions brought out showed that much. After a minute of watching the scene, Shepard noticed someone was missing.

'Where's Tali?' Shepard thought as he looked around to find the energetic quarian. He finally saw her as she looked to be something different from everyone else. He could tell Tali was studying one of the spikes with her omni-tool, the so-called 'dragon's teeth' from what Kaidan and Ash told him. He found it a strange name to give to these spikes. In his opinion, it would have been better to call them something along the lines of 'reanimation stakes' or 'reanimation spikes' but hey, who was he to name them now that they have a name. He got up and began walking to Tali's location.

"Hey Tali, what are you up to?" Shepard asked as he got within 9 feet of her. Tali looked at him as he approached.

"Oh, hey Shepard. I'm just studying these... what did Ashley and Kaidan call them? Dragon's teeth?" Tali responded as she turned back to the spike she was studying.

"You find anything out?" Shepard asked as he observed her studying it. Tali nodded in response.

"Yes actually I did! The devices convert the muscle, organs and water content of a corpse into cybernetic parts, possibly recovering a minuscule amount of nutrients, then reanimate the body with an electrical charge, turning it into a simple-minded husk that attacks anyone who gets close enough. Releasing the new husk also retracts the spike back into the tripod, ready for re-use." Tali explained excitedly. Shepard's eyes went wide at the explanation.

'She figured that much out just from studying it here?' He thought quietly before saying, "Impressive. Did you find anything else?"

Tali shook her head before answering, "Unfortunately, the technology behind the dragon's teeth is still a mystery. It doesn't resemble any other geth technology and deploying the spikes seems to be a lot of effort for a minimal result, though their psychological effect on soldiers is undeniable."

"Ain't that the truth." Shepard agreed as he observed the spike with his arms crossed. As he continued to stare at it, he could sense its power. What really bugged him though was the feeling of familiarity that came upon him as he looked at it. Almost as if a part of him knew what it was for even though it was only his second time seeing. Shepard noticed that Tali was fidgeting slightly from something.

"What's on your mind?" Shepard asked as he uncrossed his arms. Tali looked at him for a moment before answering.

"It's just strange." She said.

"What is?" Shepard asked wondering what she meant.

"It's just that out of all the bases we attacked, none of these appear to be the main outpost." Tali said making Shepard think over what they saw. After a minute he realized she was right. None of the bases had that many defenses. This current one may have been the most difficult but that was only because of the turrents placed on the mountainside and the little ambush when they walked out of the base.

"Hmmm. Your right, it is strange.." Shepard said as he tried to think over more things.

'How could we find out if there are anymore bases?' Shepard thought out as he looked at the outpost entrance. His gaze turned toward the antenna on top of it.

'That might work!' Shepard that before he returned his gaze to Tali.

"Tali, hook up to that antenna and see if it's transmitting a signal to anywhere else." Shepard said pointing to it. Tali nodded and turned her omni-tool toward the antenna. This action grabbed the attention of the others who came closer.

"What's up Shepard?" Garrus asked. Shepard turned to him before answering.

"Tali and I believe that there might be another base, so she's checking any outgoing transmissions." Shepard replied before he turned back to Tali.

"Did you find anything?" Shepard asked.

"Hold on. This receiver's picking up some kind of transmission. Based on the signal strength, I'd say it's coming from inside this star cluster." Tali said. Shepard then told everyone to get ready to be picked up in the mako. Shepard turned back to Tali who was looking at him curiously. Knowing what she was going to ask he elaborated.

"It must be a message from the main geth base. Track the signal to lock onto its location so we can take it out." Shepard ordered. Tali nodded and began to trace the signal. By the time she got the location, the Normandy was already insight. When everyone was finally in the mako, Shepard floored the accelerator and hit the thrusters as they soared off the mountain. Now this would have scared everyone else if it was their first time. Luckily it wasn't and Joker was a pretty good pilot since he was able to catch them. With that, the Normandy closed her cargo bay and took off to the next destination, Solcrum in the Grissom System.

Around 2-3 Hours Later

After a quick rest, and some much needed maintenance on their weapons and armor, the squad combat dropped onto Solcrum. As the mako landed Shepard held off on driving for a minute. He suddenly turned to everyone in the back.

"Okay, what do we know about the planet?" He asked. He felt the need to know what kind of environment they were in since the some of the last few planets they had landed on in the past had environmental hazards that included pressure, heat and other things. That reminded him of his little side mission involving Helena Blake. He really had to do something about that. Liara's voice brought him out of his thoughts though.

"Solcrum is the largest moon of the gas giant Notanban. It has a trace atmosphere of krypton and xenon. The crust is composed of various metals with deposits of sodium. As with every body in the solar system, the surface is scorching hot and thoroughly irradiated by the blue giant Grissom. Surface excursions without proper protective gear are certain to prove fatal." Liara answered having researched it.

"That's it?" Shepard asked wondering if there was anything else.

"On our approach to Notanban, the Normandy's passive sensor array intercepted a fragmentary coded transmission from the surface of Solcrum. Attempts to decrypt the message were fruitless; it does not appear to be in any software coding language used by the Citadel races."Kaidan spoke up.

"And from the information that Tali got on Maji, it would appear that the main geth base is most likely here." Ashley answered. Shepard nodded his head before speaking again.

"The geth have the advantage here then. This environment can affect us if we attack on foot. So it may be in our best interests if we stay inside the mako." He said before Wrex jumped in.

"Shepard unlike you squishy things, I can take a lot more damage than you guys. Besides you know the krogan world Tuchanka is closely the same." Wrex said. Shepard nodded as he drove to where the signal was traced too. On the way over Garrus began to talk again.

"So Shepard, what do you plan to do after we get Saren?" He asked. Everyone noticed Shepard hesitated before answering, "I was thinking of going back to Omega, but... I'm not to sure now."

The reactions varied with each squadmate:

Wrex shrugged at Shepard's response. As far as he cared, Shepard's business was his own.

Garrus raised an eyebrow. Shepard was having second thoughts? Was he thinking about staying in Citadel Space?

Tali was kind of curious at what Shepard was thinking.

Both Ashley and Kaidan were wondering if Shepard was planning to retire as Ghost and possibly join the Alliance. Kaidan knew Shepard could easily make commander or captain if he joined the Alliance. Ashley wanted him to stay in Citadel Space and join in the Alliance and hopefully... get into a relationship with her.

Liara was kind of hoping that Shepard would stay in Citadel Space and hopefully try to start a relationship with her as well. She just felt compelled to be with him for some reason.

Before anyone could say anything the mako was shaken from something.

"What the hell?" Tali said. Shepard quickly noticed his sixth sense going off and could feel 2 large electrical signatures and 3 smaller ones. He quickly hit the throttle and did a doughnut before driving behind a hill further away from the location.

"What kind of damage we got?" Shepard asked. Kaidan checked the damage and reported the shields took all of it, but were depleted by 35%. Hearing this, Shepard decided to wait behind the hill until the shields were replenished. He could use this time to think of a strategy to get past those defenses.

'Okay from what I saw when we did that doughnut the entrance to the underground base is guarded by three Geth Rocket Troopers in sniper towers and two patrolling Geth Colossi. Now I could drive around the base in a circle and stay on the move to avoid missiles, then take out the Rocket Troopers first to quickly reduce the total Geth firepower... That's a start' Shepard thought out. He looked at his team again thinking about what he could do. He stared at Ashley, Garrus and Wrex. He knew that what he had in mind would not easy unless he could use these 3.

"Ashley..." Ashley perked up at her name being called, "have you improved with your accuracy on the mako's cannon?" Shepard asked. Ash looked at him annoyed by the question.

"Yes." She answered, feeling a little insulted. Shepard pretended to not notice it as looked to everyone else.

"Okay, here's the plan..." Shepard began to say.

A few minutes later.

The geth were waiting for the organics to come out seeing as they had hidden behind the nearby hill. Only one of the rocket troopers was able to face the hill with it's launcher ready to go as it waited for the opportunity. The 2 other Colossi were also waiting on each side of the underground outpost. Suddenly the mako zoomed out of its cover. The Geth Trooper aimed it at the mako as it fired at the colossus before running over it. Following the mako, the Trooper noticed something strange until the rocket it had ready to fire suddenly exploded, destroying the unit.

Back on the hill that Shepard and co. took cover behind was a lone figure laying down with sniper rifle aimed at the destroyed unit's perch. A helmeted Garrus looked through the scope of his Volkov Sniper as he surveyed the results of the plan Shepard came up with. He could still hear it as he watched Wrex combat roll out of the mako before it fired at the Colossus with the cannon. Mako quickly knocked down the colossus.

_"Garrus, I know turians have trace amounts of Thulium in their metallic carapaces, enabling them to have a higher resistance to solar radiation than most species so here's what I need you to do: Stay behind on the hill outside, and when the opportunity presents itself, fire at the rocket the trooper on the sniper perch has ready." Shepard said before turning to Ashley and Kaidan._

_"Ashley, you will be taking Garrus' place with the cannon while Kaidan takes up your position on machine gun. We'll be flying at the Colossus on our right so I want you to fire a mass accelerator round at it before I run it over." Shepard told the 2 who nodded. His gaze switched to Wrex this time._

_"Wrex, your going to combat roll out of here just before we hit the Colossus. After we run it over, you will have a few seconds to get in close and destroy its main processor located in the head." Wrex was about say something when Shepard cut him off. _Wrex quickly got up and ran to where the downed colossus was. As he got close, the second rocket trooper targeted him. Unknown to it, the mako's turrent aimed at it and began firing at it, eventually destroying it.

_"Don't worry about the trooper who will have a clear shot at you. That's where Kaidan comes in." Shepard looked back to Kaidan. "After we knock down the colossus, you will aim at the rocket trooper who will have a clear line of sight on Wrex. You know what to do then." Shepard said as Kaidan nodded. Shepard then looked at Ashley. _The mako swung around the base, getting within sight of both the remaining colossus and trooper. The cannon fired at the final trooper as the mako ran into the colossus.

_"After that, I'll drive around the base, giving you a clear line of sight on the final rocket trooper. Take the shot. Sadly that would leave us open to the remaining colossus' counter-attack, but we can dodge it with thrusters." Shepard explained._

_"And what can we do to destroy this one?" Tali asked._

_"We do the same thing we do to the first one except when it's down, Ash and Kaidan unload everything on it." Shepard said as if it were adding 2 plus 2. _As the mako passed the colossus it got enough distance to where the cannon and turrent could simultaneously pelt it with rounds, quickly destroying it. Having destroyed all the outer defenses, the mako swerved over to the hill, allowing Garrus to jump on top of it. With that the mako drove back to the outpost where Wrex was leaning right by the door. Everyone exited quickly, getting out their preferred weapon. Before entering Wrex spoke.

"I got to admit Shepard, that plan was crazy but pretty effective." Shepard nodded in thanks as they all entered the base. The elevator they were in delved down into the surface of Solcrum. On the way down Shepard told them to be ready for close-quarter combat. This made Garrus switch his sniper to his Breaker assault rifle. While not as powerful as the Kovalyov assault rifle Shepard had given Ashley, it outclassed it in accuracy and firing rate. When the elevator finally stopped they entered a room usually used in prefabs, but Shepard was sure it would be the usual tunnel layout for underground bases. As he approached the door, he stopped.

Seeing this Kaidan asked, "What is it Shepard?"

Shepard hesitated for a moment before answering, "I can feel 7 electrical signatures. Four are the same size while the other 3 are smaller." Shepard put his hand on the wall and began using what he liked to call Biotic Sonar. The whole team watched him with Liara and Tali looking on in greater interest since it was their first time seeing it. Liara especially was curious about it.

"Shepard, what exactly are you doing?" She asked. Without looking back Shepard answered, "A biotic move I like to call Biotic Sonar or just Sonar, or maybe Pulse. Still haven't really named it." Liara watched and noticed a faint pulse of biotic energy.

"How does it work?" She asked. Ever since meeting Shepard and seeing his power strike, she has grown even more curious about the human who had rescued her. She could see clearly that he was very intelligent despite his background and the way he planned things out as well as creating things from abilities to inventions was extraordinary. Still using Sonar, Shepard began to explain.

"You know how I can sense biotics and electricity correct? Well the Sonar works in combination with it. I send small pulses of biotic energy through an area and in combination with my sense, I can virtually map out the layout of the place and whatever is inside it. The drawbacks are that the pulses I make have to be a certain size and number to map the area out. Depending on the size and amount, the energy could be detected." He explained. Liara looked fascinated by it. If only other biotics had that sense of his then they could all do it. Then she realized something.

"What do you mean by size and amount of the pulses?" She asked curiously as she saw the pulsing become bigger and faster.

"Well it's simple. If I use a big pulse, I end up 'seeing' a wider area. If I use a small pulse, it will be within 2-4 meters depending on the size. With frequency, it allows me to map an area down in more detail. For example: This area I checked out here. If I used one big pulse, I'd be able to 'see' where exactly the geth are. Since I'm using big and fast pulses, I'm able to 'see' the geth, crates, computers, everything. And I can tell that the geth inside are as follows: 3 hoppers, 3 destroyers and a geth juggernaut." Everyone was amazed at how Shepard explained it so concisely, like he was a teacher.

"I call the Juggernaut!" Shepard said, calling dibs on the Juggernaut. And now they were back from adults to being kids.

"Dammit I wanted that one!" Wrex said groaning at the loss of the strongest opponent. Shepard smirked taking his hand off the wall.

"Hehehe, too bad! You can take one of the destroyers. It'd be best to let Garrus and Ashley have the other 2 destroyers too." Shepard said, mirth turning into seriousness. Everyone else noticed it and got out of their joking reverie.

"If they get the destroyers, then I assume Kaidan, Liara and I get the hoppers then?" Tali asked, though it sounded more like a statement. Shepard nodded to her.

"What do we know about the layout?" Kaidan asked.

"The interior of the base is laid out as a prefab two story with balcony on the left rather than the expected underground pattern. Luckily for you guys, your opponents will be on the ground floor and walls, while mine is on the balcony." Shepard said irritated at how his opponent was further away and much more difficult to reach. That being said everyone rushed in fast guns blazing. Almost immediately, the roar of gun fire sounded out. Everyone took cover in various places.

Shepard chanced a look out of his cover to see a geth destroyer making its way to where Wrex was.

"Wrex! Get ready in 3, 2, 1!" Shepard yelled out. As he finished, the krogan popped out of cover blasting his Sokolov shotgun at the geth destroyer, before using throw on it. Seeing as it wasn't going to be enough and the destroyer knocked of balance, Wrex charged at it, knocking it on the ground following it up with carnage. Not giving it the chance to get up, he continued blasting at its head until it finally stopped moving.

While Wrex was fighting his opponent the others fought their's. Ashley and Garrus both took on a destroyer each while Kaidan, Liara and Tali each fought a Hopper.

Garrus saw his destroyer aim right at him as it approached while he was crouched down in cover. Quickly vaulting over his cover to get away from the incoming fire, Garrus barely managed to get out of the way in time. He didn't dare stop though as the destroyer came into the open, intent on killing him. He popped up and used overload on it. The geth was immediately paralyzed from the shock and its weapon overheated from the sudden electrical discharge as well as loosing its shields. Garrus took advantage of the situation and quickly used overkill on it, killing it.

Ashley battled hers while taking cover since she didn't have the element of surprise like Wrex or tech expertise like Garrus did. She was currently being shot at by her opponent while in cover. Thinking quickly, she boosted her shields and entered an adrenaline rush before she got out of cover and used overkill on the destroyer. She had just managed to drain its shields and do some real damage when her shields went out. Her assault training gave her temporary immunity to the pain and stinging she felt as the bullets hit her armor. Finally, the destroyer went down, riddled with holes all over. Ashley came off of her rush as she finally started to feel a lot of pain. She sank to her knees and looked at where most of it was coming from. Two bullets had managed to go through her completely on her torso. She did what she could with applying medi-gel to the wounds, but eventually the fatigue of her fight and the pain overcame her. Ashley's vision slowly went to black.

Liara faced her hopper, a stalker class, having a difficult time trying to get a decent shot on it but the fact it was using hit and run tactics was making it nearly impossible for her. Realizing this, she adjusted her strategy from using her Karpov pistol only to throwing in a few biotics. At first she tried using singularity, but by the time it manifested, the hopper was already out of range.

'This is getting very irksome! What would Shepard or Kaidan do?... They would use a move that would home in on the target, but what could... lift!' Liara thought before trying her plan. It was an immediate success as the hopper was caught and began to levitate helplessly in the air. Liara showed it no mercy as she used warp and fired on it, taking it out for good. Kaidan saw this out of the corner of his eye and quickly did the same thing, quickly destroying it. Kaidan was about to go help Tali but noticed something was wrong when he didn't see Ashley. His blood chilled for a moment when he saw some blood splatter on the wall near the entrance. He quickly went over to see what had happened.

Tali was battling her hopper, a sapper, and it was starting to tear through her shields. Thinking fast, she used overload on it just as it landed. Its power distribution disrupted by the sudden charge caused it to crash into the ground. Tali then used carnage on the hopper as it lay there helpless.

Shepard had forgone using the stairs to get to the geth juggernaut and instead opted for some old-fashioned parkour. As soon as the Wrex attacked, he raced ahead to the wall furthest from the entrance. Shepard quickly ran to the wall, manifesting his biotics to gain speed and lighten himself. Isaac, seeing what his friend was up to, activated Shepard's magboots to help grip the wall. This caused Shepard to run up the wall like it was nothing before leaping onto the balcony. The geth juggernaut saw him and immediately fired with its pulse rifle. Shepard having already anticipated it activated his omni-shield.

'Let's see who's the better Juggernaut.' He thought as the geth's rounds barraged his shield. Shepard used both warp and overload on the geth. Its equipment damaged and its shields destroyed, the juggernaut could not defend itself from Shepard who switched out his omni-shield for dual disruptor blades. Shepard immediately closed the distance, stabbing the electrified forked blades into the geth's torso and neck piece each._  
_

'I guess it's me.' Shepard thought as he wrenched his blades out of the geth, letting it fall motionless. He looked over the balcony to see his team starting to finish their opponents too. Seeing how things were going, he went to where the computer terminals were seeing as he couldn't get anything from the damaged geth bodies. He entered the room and made a b-line for the geth terminal that was hooked up to the most technology. Before he could touch it however, he heard something. The terminal lit up with music and the hologram of a quarian before a hushed crowd. He noticed the quarian warbling a mournful capella of worlds and innocence lost. The part that had him freaked out a little was the fact that the hologram looked toward him when it finished almost as if it were alive. And just like that it disappeared. He could see on the monitor that the recording was dispatched to the geth worlds beyond the Perseus Veil. After that the transmitter shutdown.

'That was strange.' Shepard thought as he began to hack the terminal. Seeing the difficult encryption on it, he had Isaac take a crack at it. He knew as good of a hacker as he was, Isaac blew him out of the water when it came to firewalls and computers. After a minute, Isaac began talking.

"Shepard, there's a number of encrypted geth data files on here. In the right hands, it could show how much the geth have evoloved since the banishment of the quarians." Isaac said suggestively.

"Yea, this could help." Shepard said before Tali ran in.

"Shepard get down here fast! Ashley's been hurt!" She hysterically said. Shepard's eyes widened before he practically flew out of the room, with Tali following him closely, until he jumped of the balcony to get to the ground floor. He landed doing a tuck-in-roll, having used his biotics unconsciously to levitate himself down. He made his way to where everyone else was seeing as they were huddled around Ashley's prone form with Kaidan attempting to do first aid.

"Garrus, go get the mako, quickly!" Shepard ordered as he approached, having slowed to a fast walk. The turian instinctively stapped to attention at his name being called before nodding and running to the entrance. As soon as Shepard got to Ashley, he kneeled down to her.

"What's the damage?" Shepard demanded as he looked over her armored torso, where the blood was pouring out from.

"2 serious bullet wounds in her torso. One each has pierced both her lungs." Kaidan said before Shepard closed his eyes and layed his hand on her stomach. He then began using biotic sonar. A few seconds passed as Shepard ignored everything around him and focused on the energy pulsing through Ashley, then he felt what was going on inside her.

"Shit." Shepard said as he activated his omni-blade. Everyone looked shocked as he began to use the searing hot blade to slice through Ashley's armor.

"What are you doing? What is it?" Kaidan asked concerned.

"The bullets went completely through her, making her blood leak into her lungs. If we don't stop it now, she's literally going to drown in her own blood." Shepard said without looking up as he carefully sliced through the armor, making sure not to graze her with the blade. After finally separating most of the armor, he deactivated the blade and ripped the armor open. Seeing as she wore her fatigues under the armor, Shepard ripped that open too revealing her wearing a sports bra and the 2 wounds. Shepard then lifted her up revealing the 2 exit shots.

"Kaidan, apply medi-gel to the back wounds while I try to pull the blood out of her lungs."Shepard ordered. Kaidan, and everyone else, wondered what Shepard meant by pull, but did what he was told. He then saw what Shepard meant by pull. Shepard was using his biotics to actually levitate and make the blood flow out of Ashley's lungs.

'That takes near perfect mass effect field manipulation!' The biotics in the group thought stunned. After a minute Shepard told Kaidan to apply medi-gel to her front now. The sentinel did so with urgency. Shepard layed Ash down as he got back up. Seeing as she was out of danger for the moment, he activated his omni-tool to call Joker.

"Joker, I need you to land the Normandy quickly. Ash's been hurt. We've stabilized her but hurry anyway! I'd prefer Chakwas take a look over her." Shepard said into his omni-tool.

"On my way now." Joker's voice responded back seriously. Shepard let out a sigh of relief as he sat down, his eyes not leaving Ash's unconscious body for a second.

An hour later.

Shepard was leaning against the wall near the med bay's entrance with his arms crossed, eyes closed waiting for permission to come in. He wasn't the only one who was there. In fact the whole team was there. Kaidan was leaning on the wall adjacent to the med bay's entrance as well. Liara and Tali both were sitting at the table in the common area. Wrex was leaning against the wall next to them while Garrus was pacing back and forth. After a minute Wrex broke the tense silence with a question.

"Shepard, who trained you in biotics?" The man mentioned opened his eyes at the question and looked at Wrex, almost as if he were considering the pros and cons of telling him the truth. Finally he relented.

"Aria T'Loak." That answer caused shock in not only Wrex, Liara, Garrus and Kaidan. The only one who wasn't was Tali having not known who Aria was.

"Your telling me that you were trained by the Pirate Queen herself?!" Wrex said after snapping out of his stupor. In his years of being a bounty hunter, he heard how ruthless and powerful Aria T'Loak was. She was known as the equivalent to the Council in the Terminus. The fact that this human managed to get her to train him was nothing short of mind boggling.

Liara was in shock at the name to having heard of the Pirate Queen from her mother. She knew an asari matriarch with that much power was definitely dangerous.

"Who's Aria T'Loak?" Tali asked not knowing who they were talking about. She got the feeling she was missing out on something big when everyone turned to her with stunned eyes.

"W-What?" She asked, uneasy by the stares.

"You were taught about the Council and their space, but not about the Terminus?" Shepard asked. Tali shook her head.

"We keep a distance from most of it." She responded.

"Well let me tell you about Aria T'Loak just in case. Aria T'Loak is the asari de facto ruler of Omega, the nominal capital of the Terminus Systems. Also known as the "Pirate Queen" of Omega, Aria is fiercely possessive of that space station and will do anything to protect it and maintain her dominance." Shepard explained a basic idea of Aria. Tali nodded in understanding, a little bit of fear mixed in too.

"What's it like?" Garrus asked drawing Shepard's attention.

"What Aria T'Loak or working for her?" Shepard asked with a small unnoticeable smirk.

"Both." the turian clarified. Shepard sighed before responding.

"Aria is very authoritative of her reign on Omega, ruling the station with an iron fist. Her organization is quite strong and her men unbelievably loyal. Almost nothing that happens on Omega escapes her notice, causing mercenary groups to think twice before crossing her. No matter who she deals with, she makes sure she has the upper hand in the bargaining. She has centuries of experience dealing with people who thought themselves being in better positions. Simply by observing a person, she can easily read a lot about them and usually immediately knows when they are lying. She is determined to always get the last word in a conversation, reinforcing her position and authority as Omega's ruler. That is until she met me." Shepard explained with his smirk growing.

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked confused by the last statement.

"Aria didn't find out who I was until I was 23 when I became the Ghost at 16. Add the fact that I was practically living right under her nose, well." Shepard said cheekily.

"So what was it like working for her?" Garrus asked again with a smirk of his own. Shepard's smirk vanished at the question.

"Have you ever seen the old human movie series 'The Godfather'?" Shepard asked with Garrus shaking his head no.

"Watch it. It's like that mixed with some other stuff." Shepard said.

"So what happened to make you get into Aria's good graces anyway?" Kaidan asked. He knew that someone like Aria was smart and very cautious, having been in a position of power for centuries.

"I saved one of her most important agents and escorted them to Aria herself. She had been looking for me ever since I started out to try and either manipulate or eliminate me. She tried to do the former with training me in biotics. After that, I started doing jobs for her and eventually rose in her ranks as her spectre equivalent." Shepard explained vaguely.

"Does she have any others?" Garrus asked. Shepard closed his eyes in thought having not moved from his position on his wall.

"I know of only 2 others, but from what Aria told me they abused their power too much. So much so that they became a detriment instead of a benefit to Omega's economy, and by extension her. In recompense, she had them eliminated." Shepard said. Everyone was a little worried for him now seeing as his 2 predecessors were killed by their benefactor.

"From what I heard though, I could see why Aria had given them their jobs considering they didn't go down easily." Shepard continued.

"And your not the least bit afraid the Aria might kill you too?" Wrex asked. Shepard shook his head no in response.

"Unlike them, Aria, along with several of her high ranking officers, has said multiple times that I am better than the previous 2 considering I don't really abuse my power, and actually brought a form of stability to Omega. That and the fact that I've lasted longer than them says something." Shepard said with a shrug. Before anyone could ask anything else, Chakwas came out. She immediately ushered Kaidan and Shepard in, but kept everyone else out.

Shepard and Kaidan quickly moved to the where Ashley was laying on. She looked relatively okay. The only indication of injury was the bandages wrapped around her torso. Shepard noticed she was sleeping peacefully too making him feel relieved.

"You two patched her up didn't you?" Chakwas asked from behind them making Shepard freeze for a moment before they both turned around. Chakwas was looking at Kaidan more than Shepard seeing as he was the medic of the group.

"It was a pretty good job considering it was on the field excellent work." Chakwas said to Kaidan. Kaidan merely shook his head before pointing to Shepard.

"Sorry Doc, but Shepard was the one who did most of the work. All I did was apply the medi-gel." He said making Chakwas look at Shepard in approval.

"All I did was use mass effect manipulation to draw the blood out of her lungs while you applied the medi-gel, Kaidan." Shepard said before he looked back at Ashley. He noticed she was smiling a little in her sleep.

"Well, all that matters is she is safe. I didn't really have to do anything but check to see if she had any other damage." Chakwas said before she turned solemn. Both men saw this.

"What's wrong?" Kaidan asked with Shepard looking just as concerned.

"The geth had used polonium rounds on her. The medi-gel that you both used had effectively wiped out the poisonous toxins from her system, but were unable to heal the damaged tissue. I'm going to have to keep her in here for at least 2 weeks. Even then she won't get back into the field for a week after that." Chakwas explained.

Shepard let loose a sigh of relief that he had been holding in. "Fine at least she's safe."

"Now you 2 are going to leave now and let her get some peaceful rest." Chakwas subtly ordered. Both men left the med bay to tell everyone the news. Everyone else left to do something after having heard Ashley will be fine. Everyone except Tali and Shepard that is.

"Shepard I need to talk to you, it's important." Tali said.

"Sure what's up?" Shepard asked.

"You know the data you took from those geth control nodes? The information you had Joker send to the Alliance? I want a copy of it." Tali said with confidence.

"For your Pilgrimage huh." It wasn't a question.

"Those files could have information that could be vital to our efforts to understand the geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim our homeworld!"Tali reasoned before Shepard raised his hand up to calm her down.

"Okay I'll give you a copy." Shepard said as he took out another OSD from his pocket. Issac had already copied it to the personal OSD anyway.

"My people-I- owe you great debt. One we can never repay." She said as she reached for the OSD before Shepard pulled the OSD from her reach.

"On one condition." Shepard said with a small grin. Tali looked shocked at him before narrowing her eyes.

"What?" She said in a cautious tone. Shepard wasn't going to ask for something really unreasonable... was he?

"You don't leave our little group until we stop Saren. Deal?" Shepard said as he handed out the OSD.

"Deal. I promise to stand with you till the end." Tali said before swiping it from him. She then hugged him. Shepard was mildly surprised by the strong grip she had on him.

"Thank you Shepard." Tali whispered before she bolted to the elevator. Shepard was about to go to his room when Joker called him.

"Hey Shepard, Admiral Hackett called again. He wants to speak with you." Joker said.

"Be right there." Shepard said as he went up to the galaxy map. When he finally got there, Hackett spoke to him first.

"Ghost we just received your report. Looks like these geth incursions were bigger than we thought. They were probably preparing for a major offensive in the system."

"What are you going to do about it in the future?" Shepard asked.

"We're increasing patrols in the Armstrong Cluster to make sure they can't establish another foothold in the region. Nice work Ghost. You saved a lot of human lives on this mission."

It wasn't just me, it was my team." Shepard retorted. Before he began to leave when Hackett spoke again.

"I never would have imagined Hannah Shepard's boy to become the person you are today, Shepard." Shepard froze in mid-step along with the rest of the crew from hearing that comment.

"What did you just say?" Shepard asked as he turned around to the map.

* * *

I'm very sorry for the delay! I had a bad case of work piling up, college preparations and some laziness mixed in. But I'm back. Tell me what you think and please review.

I also have a new poll up so please vote!


	23. What we do for the people we care for 2

Recap: "What did you just say?" Shepard asked as he turned around to the map.

Now

Everyone remained silent as they listened to the conversation between Shepard and Admiral Hackett. Just a mere few second's ago Hackett had said the name of Shepard's mother, Hannah Shepard.

"It would appear that she never told you her past." Hackett responded. Shepard quickly masked his shock at the statement with a neutral expression.

"No she didn't. She died when I was eleven, so she didn't really have much time." Shepard retorted. On the other side of the conversation, Hackett winced a little.

'I can't believe I forgot about that.' He thought silently. Back over on the Normandy Shepard waited for Hackett's response. The awkward silence from his last comment was starting to make him think it might have been too much before Hackett started talking again.

"I see. Would you like me tell you about my connection with her? And her connection to the Alliance?" Hackett offered. Shepard didn't respond immediately. He was momentarily stunned by the fact his mother was actually connected to the Alliance. As far as he knew, she was some kind of scientist, but... was the Alliance responsible for his creation? The implications agitated his mind further at what was real and was not. Seeing as he didn't know what was what he decided to ask.

"Okay, what was her connection to the Alliance?" Shepard asked in neutral tone. Some part of him noticed that the crew were paying attention to the conversation but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment, not when he was finding out something like this.

"Very well. Where to begin?" Hackett said before thinking over what he should say before continuing, "You should know that your mother was among, if not the best and brightest of the Alliance R&amp;D. She was involved in a number of top secret projects, pioneered gene therapy and even created the basis of what would be the Normandy's Tantalus drive core." Hackett said giving everyone listening a shock. Shepard's mother was that smart?!

"I-I see." Shepard stuttered out in surprise. 'You were that important uh mom?' That was when he thought of something else.

"What caused her to leave?" He asked. It was Hackett's turn to be quiet now. Shepard already knew that Hackett was obviously high up the Alliance's chain of command so he probably met with his mother a lot of times seeing as she was on more than a few top secret projects.

"One of the projects she was on had a... terrible accident." Hackett said slowly. Accident? What did he mean.

"An accident?" Shepard asked curiously, his tone hinting that he didn't believe it was just some accident.

"Yes, one that had caused the deaths of more than a few of our best scientists." Hackett clarified. Shepard wanted to know more but felt that Hackett wasn't going to say anything else about what happened.

"Is that why she left?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. After the incident, she just disappeared. No given reasons or any goodbyes, just poof. Gone" Hackett said. If Shepard had been anyone else, he wouldn't have noticed the slight sadness in the Admiral's voice. Maybe they had been friends at one point?

"Were you 2 close?" Shepard asked. Hackett didn't respond back and was silent for whole minute before answering.

"We had met over our time on the projects with her being the head scientist and me having to check in on progress every now and then. She was someone you could get along with easily. In the end we became good friends." Hackett informed.

"Hmm. Um if it's not to much trouble to ask, what exactly did you have her work on? I mean I know she was incredibly smart, but it's just that I was wondering what her department was in that you know? Bio-engineering, mechanical warfare, starship design?" Shepard asked thinking he might find out if the Alliance really did create him and if possible... that Hackett might be his father if what the man said was true.

"I can't go into specifics but she was in a lot of projects in multiple areas of expertise." Hackett replied in an evasive tone. Shepard knew he had dig deeper.

"Look, when I was a kid, Mom mentioned something about genetic modifications and such. I'm just trying to find out more about her." Shepard said in a solemn tone. He lied about the part of her mentioning that when he was a kid, but he couldn't let anybody know that he was in 'spiritual contact' with his mother. They'd think he'd finally cracked! Hackett made an audible sigh at Shepard's comment.

"Shepard listen. I'd love to tell you more about what we did if it brought you any peace, believe me I would. But all I can say is that when she worked in bio-engineering, all that they made was a type of serum that would help improve a soldier's performance. That's all I can say. I'm sorry." Hackett said. Shepard could barely hear the genuine apology hidden in the Admiral's rough voice.

"It's fine. It's more than I had a minute ago. Thanks." Shepard responded back. If what Hackett said was true then the Alliance wasn't responsible for his creation, so who was it?

"Shepard are you still there?" Hackett asked bringing the Ghost out of his thoughts.

"Oh. Soooo you never heard from her after she left?" Shepard asked awkwardly.

"No. She disappeared and I didn't hear anything about her until she popped up 18 years ago on the Mindoir casualty list." Hackett said. Shepard's eyes softened for a minute.

"That must have been some pretty bad news then." Shepard commented out load.

"Well it was softened by the fact I found out she had a son... and he wasn't on the casualty list but MIA... I kept out my ears out for anyone named Shepard, but no so such luck until a few weeks ago when I heard that the Ghost of the Terminus' last name was Shepard." Hackett said. Shepard knew Hackett was talking about his Spectre inauguration. Shepard figured Hackett did it because he might have felt he owed his mother that since Mindoir was in Alliance boundaries.

"Not what you expected me to be then I take it?" Shepard chuckled out bitterly.

"Yes but it was better than what I expected." Hackett retorted.

"I'm guessing you expected me to be in a slave pen or something right?" Shepard asked, grinning a little.

"Close enough. Instead I find out that you're the one taking them out." Hackett said with some mild amusement. Shepard chuckled remembering what happened.

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you escape?" Hackett asked. He was curious as to how Shepard managed to escape what had happened on Mindoir. He knew what events occurred on Mindoir was something no 11 year old could get away from, not alone any way. Shepard's mirth left him immediately at the question.

"A... mercenary saved me." Shepard said vaguely, thinking that the Alliance may try to headhunt Zaeed. He knew the old ornery bastard didn't need it. If Shepard got annoyed by the near constant scouting attempts, he just knew Zaeed would start shooting at them around the 2nd or 3rd time.

"A mercenary? I'm going to assume that they're the one who trained you in assault then?" Hackett asked, suspicious of just who trained Shepard. He had seen footage of Shepard's tactics. He knew by experience only a veteran could come up with tactics that fast and Shepard wasn't in any war at the time then.

"Yea, he held nothing back. Just as I asked him to." Shepard said, subtly telling Hackett that he wasn't forced and that both he and his 'teacher' could fight with the best of the Alliance's soldiers. After a tense silence, Hackett spoke again.

"I see. Then that is all I suppose. We'll keep in touch then." Hackett said as he signed off. Everyone was silent as Shepard stepped down from the galaxy map. Before he could make it to the stairs Pressly stopped him.

"Sir, did you know how disrespectful you were to Admiral Hackett just now?" Pressly asked in waning shock. He wasn't angry at Shepard, just wondering how someone could have a blatant disregard for protocol when talking to an Admiral as high up as Hackett is. Shepard looked at him for a moment before answering him.

"That was disrespect? Whoops! I wasn't brought up with military discipline or protocol. Besides he's seen me give the finger to a Rear Admiral on Elysium before so I thought he could tolerate a little attitude from me. I'm like that with everyone." Shepard responded with a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his head. He really was that way with everyone when he wasn't in a fight. Pressly just stared at Shepard before shaking his head at the man. Who could be like this with everyone?

"Okay, but if you get in trouble don't think it's for nothing." Pressly warned him jokingly as he went back to his station.

"As long as it's trouble I can get out of, I'll be fine." Shepard responded back as he made his way to Joker remembering what they needed to do. As he made his way to Joker, he could hear the crew members talking about his conversation with Hackett. Some of them couldn't believe that his mother was practically the best scientist in the Alliance and were wondering why she left in the first place. Others were saying that he might be Hackett's son and that might be why she left. He ignored the comments and just kept going towards the cockpit.

"Yo Joker." Shepard greeted. The pilot turned to Shepard.

"Hey Shepard. You know you might be the first person I've ever seen talk to an Admiral so casually. Or at least heard." Joker said grinning a little. Shepard chuckled at him. He couldn't believe that everyone was looking at him shocked or surprised at his behavior. He then looked Joker.

"Joker which is closer? The Kepler Verge or Argos Rho?" Shepard asked. Joker looked at him curiously before turning to his galactic map and began looking at it.

"Uhh It looks like the Kepler Verge is closer. Why, you want to go after that guy Garrus was after?" Joker informed. Shepard nodded at the question.

"Yea after him, we're going to the pirate stronghold Wrex told us about. How long till we get there?" Shepard asked. Joker looked at his instruments to measure out how much time they'd take.

"Around 8-12 hours, Shepard." Joker responded.

"Okay, get us over there. See ya." Shepard ordered before leaving to his room. After entering it Shepard sensed something was off in it. He quickly locked the door and began to check for anything amiss. After a minute of searching, he found another bug. He carefully looked over as it self-destructed on itself.

"That rules the Alliance out. So who..." Shepard said to himself until he saw the icon again. The one that looked like a hexagonal diamond being held up by 2 things on it.

"Shadow Broker wouldn't make the same mistake twice so who are these people?" Shepard silently asked himself before turning to where he had put up his in-room bug.

'That bug of mine may have seen who did this.' Shepard thought as he put the bug in the trash and went to his personal one. Quickly connecting it to the terminal by his bed via his private OSD. He waited a few seconds until the screen came up and saw that the iron man project was completed. He quickly told it to be shipped to the Normandy's private dock at the Citadel and put on private reserve knowing it would take a couple days for both it and the Normandy to get there. After doing so, he checked the feed from his bug and saw one the crew members in the CIC and did it. The bug also caught him searching the room for any belongings or possibly the OSD. He backtracked and checked the files of the crew and looked for the matching profile.

'Servicemen 1st Class, Fred Stanley. Born April 13, 2157. Trained in hand to hand combat and small tech expertise. Enlisted into the Alliance at age 18 straight out of high school. Was a vocal member for the Terra Firma party in early high school often getting in trouble due to Xenophobic racism. This guy sounds like bad news already.' Shepard thought as he quickly deactivated things and put his OSD in one of the pouches on his fatigues. After putting the bug pack into its spot, he quickly exited and made his way up to the CIC where he found Stanley. He kept himself calm as he approached the man when he suddenly sensed something.

'Wha- What the hell? This guy is a biotic?! How come I didn't sense it earlier! Wait a minute it's incredibly weak. He'd probably be able to use it to enhance his speed and force, not much else like other abilities such as warp.' Shepard thought as he analyzed it. He then approached the man.

"Excuse me, are you serviceman Fred Stanley?" Shepard asked the man who turned around to face him. Shepard had to give the man credit with the somewhat surprised look. Shepard knew I smart spy doesn't use a completely shocked face or a neutral face. Those are dead give aways. No instead they settle for something in the middle: They weren't expecting it but they're not surprised by it. Smart man.

"Uh yes sir, yes I am." Fred said, curious as to why Shepard came to him.

"I need to see you down in the cargo bay please." Shepard said ushering the man towards the stairs. Both men went down the stairs and into the elevator before letting it take them down into the cargo bay. As they exited the elevator, both men noticed that the cargo was basically a ghost town. Now that Shepard thought about it he could sense Wrex up in the common area, Garrus must have been with him. Both men walked away from the elevator till they were almost in the middle of the room.

"So what did you want to talk about Sir?" Fred asked as he turned to Shepard only to see the man have his omni-bow out, aimed at Fred's head.

"Sir?" Fred asked in shock. Shepard'eyes narrowed at the man.

"Cut the act, spy guy! Who are you working for?" Shepard asked coldly. Fred's shocked expression changed into one of amusement.

"So you finally found me out? Took you long enough... Subject Alpha." Fred said with a smug smile as he raised his hands up.

'Subject Alpha?' Shepard thought confused until he remembered what his mother told him.

_"You were created in a lab with my DNA mixed with someone else's, the man who told me to create you. Because you were suppose to be the first of a new breed of humans. A super race that could outwit a salarian, overpower an asari matriarch in biotics, heal faster and outfight any krogan, and to adapt to any situation." _

"So that's it. The organization that created me is trying to acquire me huh?" Shepard asked realizing who was after him.

"Looks like Dr. Shepard told you." Fred stated calmly. Shepard didn't answer as he stared at the guy.

'He's confident meaning he's either got an escape planned or he knows something else.' Shepard thought trying to figure the man out.

"Well in that case I guess I'm going to have to go to phase 2." Fred said said as his omni-tool beeped lit up. Shepard heard a sound reminiscent to doors locking. He turned his head back to the elevator to see the green light had turned red and from what he could see further down, so were the doors to engineering. He looked back just in time to see Fred kick his omni-bow covered arm away. Fred assaulted Shepard with a flurry of biotically enhanced punches to the torso finishing with a biotic blast.

'Shit!' Shepard thought as he was sent flying back, landing on his feet in a skid. He quickly created a barrier for himself and got back up to see Fred was standing in a relaxed position with a smug smile on his face.

"I would have thought that the Ghost of the Terminus would be able to block all of that, but then again a mix of an adrenaline rush with biotic melee can be... well..." Fred said smugly as he suddenly used overload on Shepard to take out the hastily made barrier Shepard had. With his barrier gone, Shepard was left stunned.

"A-Are you a Juggernaut too?" He asked incredulous. Fred just laughed at him.

"J-J-J-Juggernaut?! I-Is that what you call your c-class? Hahaha! Well it does fit somewhat so it's acceptable I guess. I'm not a _Juggernaut _just yet. I'm what you would call a True Infiltrator with some small biotics mixed in." Fred said as he crossed his arms, still wearing that insufferable smirk.

"True Infiltrator?" Shepard asked as he thought of what to. He put his left hand on his ribs to ease out the soreness while putting his right hand behind his back. Isaac took advantage of the moment and used Shepard's right omni-tool to send a message to Joker.

'It's Shepard. Confronting a spy down in the cargo bay. Trapped inside. Get the team in here. Now!' Joker quickly relayed the message to everyone on the team who was not in recovery meaning everyone but Ashley. As soon as Tali got the message she raced to the doors to find they were locked down. She did what she could to hack the door but it was going to take a while. The same was going on with Kaidan and Garrus who were trying the same thing with the elevator door.

Back with Shepard and the spy. Shepard was currently trying to figuring out what to do as Fred began to monologue.

"If you call yourself a Juggernaut, one who has become all of the classes, then I am a True Infiltrator, one who has become a combination of a soldier, engineer and an infiltrator. The biotics are recently new." Fred told still smirking.

"I see and this organization?" Shepard asked thinking he might be able to find out more about his creation and exactly who was it that ordered it.

"So Dr. Shepard didn't tell you all of it then? Well let me enlighten you, Subject Alpha." Fred said before a sick fanatical grin came upon his face.

"The group that I work for are doing the work of God. They are going to put Humanity and all the other races in their proper places."

"And that place is?" Shepard asked having a bad feeling in his gut.

"To put humanity in the forefront. To make humanity the rightful rulers of these pathetic aliens!"

"And what was my role in all of this?" Shepard asked having healed any injuries he had.

"You were supposed to be the first. The first truly perfect human who would end up leading the next ones to take over." Fred said with his tone becoming more hostile.

"Then I'm glad I'm not that. I'm happy with who I am now and I don't really care that much about humanity becoming supremacists." Shepard said standing up straight now fully recovered.

"Well, we don't really care about what you think. At least I don't. I have orders to bring you in, dead or alive!" Fred said before running at Shepard with full speed, omni-blade out. Shepard did the same thing and clashed with the spy. Both blades clashed with the sound of metal clashing together and orange sparks flying around. Both men kept going strong until the blades cancelled out and exploded from the strain, splitting the 2 apart. Fred had another omni-blade out ready to behead Shepard. Using his biotics to enhance his speed and his adrenaline to enhance his reaction time, Shepard ducked and rolled under the bladed sweep. On instinct, he put his omni-shield up just in time to block an incineration attack, causing smoke to spread from the explosion.

'Too close!' Shepard thought seeing the 2 couldn't have more than 3 feet between them. Deactivating his omni-shield, Shepard could sense Fred had moved back a few feet. Shepard suddenly saw something through the smoke. A green like light.

'What the he-!' Shepard thought when he was suddenly hit by some type of toxic dart. Right in the neck too. He quickly ripped it out. Everything around him suddenly became blurry and he began to hear Fred's voice.

"Hahahaha! You like it? It's a lethal dose to normal humans, but we both know you're no normal human so all it should do is put you down, unconscious. Right now your vision should be getting poor and soon so will your hearing. After that your movements will get slower and more sluggish."

'Shit he isn't kidding! I can't even see straight and the sounds around the room are starting to sound like dull thuds. How can I fight this?' Shepard thought desperately as the toxin began to effect at an alarming rate. That was when he sensed something before he felt a biotically powered hand grab him by the throat and lifted him up effortlessly. Then the hand tossed him for a minute before he felt 2 omni-blades make an x-slash on his torso. Before he could even roar from the pain a biotic strike landed on his left rib-cage. This time he didn't even groan from it as he was hurdling to the ground further away from his position He could feel he had at least 3 cracked ribs from it.

He got back up on his heads and knees as he spit out more than a little blood. He sensed Fred making his way to him and... wait, he could still sense the bastard! Fred was right in front of him as he knelt down to his level. While all of this went on Joker had gotten the intercom on to listen in and see what was going on as well as the whole crew. Everyone but the ground team watched with bated breathe as they saw Shepard get beaten up mercilessly by the traitor. Ashley had just woken up to see and hear what was going on down below with Chakwas and Liara who were looking extremely worried.

"You know, I never understood what was so great about you. All you are is a little bastard who lost his mommy at 11 years old... to aliens no less! And yet you still don't see the truth: they'll never see humans as anything but second class civilians. The Council with this whole human spectre thing? It won't last, your a gimmick to the Alliance. And to top it all off, you brought aliens on this ship and surrounded your self with them and broken cases like Alenko and that bitch Williams. No one here really likes you. All you are to them is the next big thing, and when you fail they will forget all about you. Actually you already are a nobody! But don't worry I'm going to keep all of that pain from happening." Fred said as he got up and walked over to Ashley's workbench.

"After I kill you," Fred picked up Shepard's Master HMWP and activated it.

"I'll rip open that Quarian girls suit after killing the other engineers and have some fun with her as she dies from an infection." Fred continued as he began to walk back to Shepard.

'Tali.' Shepard thought as he remembered the times he met and talked with her. Tali down in engineering heard that and shivered in fear before Adams put a hand on her shoulder and told her not to worry. That they wouldn't let him do that to her with everyone nodding their heads. Encouraged, she continued to hack through the door.

"Then I'm going to kill the krogan and turian before dealing with Alenko." Fred said as he got closer.

'Wrex, Garrus, Kaidan.' Shepard remembered all the times he talked with them. How he was going to help Wrex and Garrus while learning more about the 3 of them. All 3 men mentioned had heard the earlier remark at Tali and were even more murderous than before, pushing Kaidan and Garrus to hack through the door with renewed zeal.

"After them, I'll put a few bullets into that old hag of a doctor and who knows I might try to have some fun with that Williams girl. She does have a nice body after all. It's a shame her family's such a disgrace to humanity. Maybe that asari bitch can join in before I kill her too." Fred's sleazy voice sounded out.

'Chakwas, Ashley, Liara!' Shepard began to feel pure rage burn in his heart. The 3 women mentioned were trembling in fear at the man's words. Ashley was both mad and scared of him. Mad because of the insult and scared cause she knew she couldn't do anything in her condition.

"And lets not forget the people of the CIC. I think after killing everyone in their, I'll kill that stupid mediocre pilot by crushing his skull with my boot. Should be pretty easy." Fred said as he got in front of Shepard.

'Joker, everyone!' Shepard began growling at the rage surging through him. He remembered all the times they supported him just by being there, all the times he talked with Joker and how easily they got along together. Everyone in the CIC were not angry, in fact they were pissed! How dare this guy even say such awful things to everyone. Joker was doing everything he could to get the doors opened faster but he was locked out of the system.

"And after that I'll take this ship to my employer. I'm sure I will get a reward for it. Who knows I might even get a promotion. All I need to do now though is just kill you. You know what? You are pathetically shortsighted, just like your bitch mom! HAHAHAHA!" Fred finished laughing like maniac as he pointed the gun to Shepard's head, ready to pull the trigger.

'The Normandy, Mom!' Shepard mentally roared out as he gritted his teeth. Before Fred could start his deranged plan by pullin the trigger, Shepard slapped the gun out his hand and executed a biotic thrash on the traitor. Fred was sent hurdling back from the sudden attack and he landed and continued skidding to the elevator door. He finally stopped when his head slammed into the door. He quickly got up, surprised from the sudden attack.

"How? You shouldn't be able to move much less attack me!" The maniac demanded. Everyone watched in stunned silence as Shepard calmly got up.

"I'm the Ghost of the Terminus. That title was important to the people because it meant that there was someone who would protect them. The class Juggernaut is mine and mine alone making me unique. And also..." Shepard looked at the traitor with a glare that would have scared the devil.

"Those people you listed off and threatened..." He spoke in an equally cold tone, "are all important people to me now. And if I can't stop you then they will."

For a moment Fred couldn't speak as pure terror had gripped him, but he shook himself out of it before speaking, "Who cares? They don't know what's going on here! When I kill you, engineering is next then I'll work my way up from there! They won't see it coming." Thinking he had the upper hand he laughed.

"You're an idiot aren't you?" Shepard asked, not noticing the blood leaking out of x-shaped wound. Fred stopped laughing and looked Shepard with pure hatred.

"What are you talking about, you xeno-lover?" Fred asked with xeno-lover sounding more like curse.

"The intercom is on so the whole crew heard it." Shepard said lifting his omni-tool up for emphasis.

"You're bluffing!" Fred challenged as he got up.

"I'm not. Isn't that right... Joker?" Shepard said smirking. To Fred's growing horror he heard the pilot.

"Loud and clear Shepard. Got the whole thing recorded and everyone heard it too." Joker responded sounding not too happy with what he witnessed. Fred knowing he had only one way of escape quickly ran at Shepard, thinking her could take the man hostage. Shepard's vision was still pretty bad but his sixth sense wasn't. Flaring his biotic aura to use his sonar-like ability to 'see' Fred made things easier. He lifted his hand in Fred's direction. Isaac understanding Shepard's plan, activated the omni-tool and used Neural Shock on the maniac. The man fell like a sack of potatoes. Shepard calmly walked over to temporary paralyzed man and used omni-cuffs. A pare of specialized cuffs he kept on his person in case Aria ever wanted him to bring someone in alive. He then flipped the man over and waited for the paralysis to wear off. It didn't take long before Fred started thrashing around, spouting curses and obscenities. Shepard silenced him by slapping him in the face.

"Your going to tell me everything about your employer, the organization and my mother's involvement. Now!" Shepard said as he held the man by the scruff of his fatigues. Fred looked at him before a maniacal grin spread over his face.

"The only thing I'll tell you..." Fred said before used his tongue to pull a false tooth and copped on it. "Is that humanity will have all the power... and the... Xeno-lovers... will...diiiiiieeeeee." Just like that, the spy Fred Stanley died with the use of a suicide pill. Shepard seeing this, dropped the foaming corpse unceremoniously. That was in his wounds started to plague him again. What Fred didn't bother telling him was that the toxin had another effect: It pretty much renders Shepard's accelerated healing to a normal person's. Shepard turned back to the elevator and tried to walk towards before falling down on his stomach. Knowing he needed to get to Chakwas, he tried crawling to it and only managed to get a few feet closer before his strength left him. The last thing he saw before passing out was the elevator's light turning green.

* * *

Okay I'm sorry for it being short. These will happen okay. Some will be longer than normal others will be shorter not by much though.

For the guest who asked about the chainsaw 2 things:

1) There's an omni-chainsaw?

2) It seems a little redundant to me because an omni-blade is practically a diamond hard super heated blade that could in theory cut through anything or at least leave a mark on it.

For Mr. Kazuka, thank you for the kind review and I also hope to give Shepard a harem too. I haven't found any successfully completed ones to this day and we all know the hype this story brought everyone.

Oh that reminds me for those of you who want a lemon, well I'm going to need you guys to send it in.

(Get's crowded by a bunch of perverted fanboys) Back! Back! (Beats them off with a stick and whip) Jesus wait for me to finish!

All I need is some of you to send some or*bleep* scene, some real *bleep* scenes and some lines too. I'll try to tie it all together. If you want it to happen, send it in. If not I'll just skip it unless a real perverted streak hits me when I do write it.

Now with that out of the way, thank you for reading. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll be there for the next chapter. Pleasant reading and please review I was really happy that I got 2 more reviews!

Oh and before I forget, I'll be taking the poll down within the week so if you haven't voted and were planning too, do it soon!


	24. What we do for the people we care for 3

That's an omni-chainsaw?! That doesn't look like one!

* * *

Recap: "The only thing I'll tell you..." Fred said before he used his tongue to pull a false tooth and chomped on it. "Is that humanity will have all the power... and the... Xeno-lovers... will...diiiiiieeeeee." Just like that, the spy Fred Stanley died with the use of a suicide pill. Shepard seeing this, dropped the foaming corpse unceremoniously. That was when his wounds started to plague him again. What Fred didn't bother telling him was that the toxin had another effect: It pretty much rendered Shepard's accelerated healing to a normal person's. Shepard turned back to the elevator and tried to walk towards it before falling down on his stomach. Knowing he needed to get to Chakwas, he tried crawling to it and only managed to get a few feet closer before his strength left him. The last thing he saw before passing out was the elevator's light turning green.

Now

After Shepard passed out, the doors to the elevator and engineering opened up making the squad race out of them, only to see Shepard lying face down, unconscious in a growing pool of his own blood.

"Shepard!" Tali said as she ran to the downed spectre. Kaidan moved to Shepard to apply some medi-gel to stabilize him while Garrus and Wrex moved to Fred's corpse. Wrex glared at the corpse, severely tempted to fire a round into the corpse at how the man acted.

"Did Shepard kill him?" Wrex asked seeing Garrus inspecting the corpse. The turian shook his head.

"No he didn't. This guy used a suicide pill which was hidden as a false tooth. The guy used cyanide, a dangerous substance to humans in particular." Garrus said. Wrex raised an eyebrow.

"Cyanide?" Wrex asked. Garrus nodded still looking at Fred's body.

"Yes it affects different races on different levels, all of them acidic. We learned about it when humans began to be a part of c-sec." He explained. Wrex hmphed at the explanation.

"What I want to know is how the hell was this guy able to harm Shepard like this?" Wrex said aloud.

"You know that's just what I was wondering too." Garrus said nodding his head. Both of them suddenly heard sniffles behind them. Looking around, they could see that Tali.

"What's wrong Zorah?" Wrex asked as the 2 moved to where she was.

"I-It's S-S-Shepard. H-H-He's not healing as fast as he should be!" Tali finally said, sobbing a little now. Wrex and Garrus' eyes widened at the statement. Everyone looked toward Kaidan who had turned Shepard on his back to apply medi-gel. It was working but the toxins were making it difficult. The sentinel looked towards his squadmates.

"Wrex, Garrus, I need you both to help me carry him. We need to get him to Chakwas quickly! I mean I'm good, but Chakwas is our best bet to get him safe." Kaidan said with Wrex and Garrus grabbing Shepard gingerly and moving him to the elevator. Kaidan and Tali entered the elevator right behind them and activated the elevator. The slow ride up was killing them as well as Shepard.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen a human this pale." Tali said having not taken her eyes off Shepard. She was right he was pale. Not pale as a white sheet but enough to be worried about it. None of the men answered seeing as they've seen worse in the past but they didn't have to tell her that. She didn't deserve it. It was unsettling though to see Shepard this pale and weak. The elevator finally made it to the living area. Everyone immediately went to the med bay. As soon as they entered, Chakwas ushered them to one of the beds she prepared.

"Hurry, over here." Chakwas told them as she pointed to the bed in the middle of the 3. Liara and Ashley both were staring at Shepard who was laid onto the bed as easily as Wrex and Garrus could. Chakwas cleared the area around him and began to scan him for all injuries. After a few seconds she saw the results.

'What in God's name? His healing factor should have healed this by now! What's stopping it?' Chakwas thought as she looked at the results. From what she could see, Shepard was poisoned with some sort of toxin. She quickly ushered everyone except Ashley out, seeing as she couldn't really leave yet. As soon as they all left, she immediately took a blood sample from Shepard to immediately begin making an antidote.

Within Shepard's Inner World

Shepard had fallen into his inner world almost as soon as he passed out. He was back in the forest, clad in his Heavy Colossus Armor with all his Master HMW's. He looked around and noticed that the moon was now in a first quarter phase.

'Wow my powers have evolved if only a little bit. I wonder what's going to happen when the moon becomes full?' Shepard thought as he stared at it.

"You know I never would have thought 'he' would have sent a psychopathic xenophobe to spy on you son." Hannah Shepard's voice spoke from behind him. John's head snapped her direction to see his mother standing behind him, wearing a lab outfit with a matching coat.

"He?" John asked.

"Your 'biological father' so to speak." Hannah said with quotes on biological father. John wasn't even going to ask about that.

"So he's essentially the leader of what? A xenophobic human group?" John asked scratching his head in curiosity. Hannah looked to be mulling over her answer before responding.

"Somewhat. It attracts xenophobes but the main goal of his organization is the preservation of humanity... at any cost." Hannah said with seriousness. John eyes narrowed at that last part. At any cost huh? That's hardly ever good.

"Do you want to know what the organization is?" Hannah offered. John hesitated for a minute. Did he really want to know from his mom? After a minute he decided his answer.

"No. I'll figure it out on my own mom. I'd rather not find it out from you on the off chance I'm going to end up explaining it." John said. Hannah smiled at his answer.

"Never the easy way out with you is it?" She asked rhetorically. John smiled back at her.

"I learned it from you mom." He retorted. Hannah laughed at his little joke. John joined in with her laughter for a minute before turning serious to her.

"Mom what's with this Subject Alpha business?" John asked. Hannah stopped laughing at the question.

"The station you were created in was named Alpha Station and you were also the only subject there. The sole reason it was named that was because the project I worked on was Project Alpha. As for the Alpha part... well you already know about your genetic modifications." Hannah explained.

"And these guys are trying to reacquire me because?" John urged.

"Because when I defected for you, I deleted and destroyed all the data. Now I don't know if 'he' really did order a dead or alive capture. I believe that spy was too psychotic that he believed that you would be impossible for live capture. That and the fact that the spy was an intense xenophobe combined with the fact that you made it no secret about your beliefs of humanity and other aliens..." Hannah said before John finished for her.

"Made me look like I was better off dead in his eyes." John said. Hannah nodded. Then that meant his 'father' may want him more alive than dead, but based on the fact that his mother destroyed all of the data means that more than likely they want, no, need his DNA more than him. Hannah just stared at him with a worried look knowing he was beginning to figure things out. John saw her look and remembered something.

"That toxin Fred used on me, what was it?" John knew few people had the knowledge of medicine and poisons like his mother.

"I'm unsure. It was most likely an experimental poison of sorts since I haven't seen anything like it before. And from what the spy said, it was a lethal dose. Though I must say it works more for live capture than anything else, well except for healing negation." Hannah said absentmindedly.

"Healing negation?!" John nearly shouted out. If his healing was slowed down, then those wounds Fred had given him were going to be a serious problem. Hannah noticed her son's distress and decided to calm him down.

"Don't worry. Your friends got you to the Normandy's doctor in time. She's probably making an antidote as we speak." She reassured him. John let out a relived sigh that he was holding.

"Whew." John sighed out. Hannah then got a very evil smirk on her face.

"So Johnny... I noticed you're having some girl trouble." Hannah said in an equally evil tone. John Shepard shivered in fear for the first time in a long time.

At Cronos Station in the Horsehead Nebula

"Sir... Agent Stanley... is dead sir." A scientist informed the Illusive Man. The scientist was shaking in fear of his employer since it was about Subject Alpha. He didn't really know why the Illusive Man wanted Subject Alpha brought back alive since it would be so much simpler to bring back his corpse and clone him or use the DNA to make the perfect soldiers by possibly grafting it into their own genetic codes.

"I know." the Illusive Man said in a cold tone not unlike Shepard's as he smoked his cigar.

"Y-You knew, Sir?" The scientist asked in fear at the Illusive Man's tone. He knew when Illusive Man spoke with that frigid tone it hinted at his cold fury waiting to escape.

"Yes and if Shepard hadn't killed him I might have." Mister Illusive responded coldly.

"S-Sir?" The frightened scientist inquired.

"Agent Stanley may have been one of our better agents, but he was too impulsive, shortsighted. He believed that with his current skill set that he could take Shepard. For a minute he did. He managed to cut off all routes of entry and exits, even going so far as to use the experimental toxin that we manufactured. But he forgot one thing..." The Illusive Man said revealing that he knew exactly what went on to the scientist.

"And that was...?" The scientist asked.

"Shepard's intelligence." The Illusive Man clarified. The scientist awwed in understanding.

"Add in Agent Stanley's overconfidence when he decided to monologue which gave Shepard enough time to adapt to the toxin and it could only lead to his defeat." The Illusive Man remarked.

"Sir if I may interrupt, Subject Alpha didn't kill Agent Stanley. Agent Stanley killed himself. And also Shepard found out about him first." The scientist squeaked out.

"Hmmm, true enough. Don't send anymore agents to spy on Shepard. While reclaiming Subject Alpha is an objective we will need to accomplish in the future, he will personally be expecting more since he has already found 2 of our bugs and one of our agents. Did Agent Stanley have any immediate family?" The Illusive Man inquired.

"Umm no Sir." The scientist responded after checking Fred Stanley's files.

"Very well then. You may go." The Illusive Man ordered as the scientist exited the room. Knowing he was gone the Illusive Man pulled up 2 orange terminal screens. One held the file of a woman with blue eyes and red hair while the other one held a face everyone in the galaxy had seen. This man had been a main interest of the Illusive Man since he was still a newborn. The file was about John Shepard.

The Illusive Man had a feeling that Dr. Shepard was the one behind the destruction of Alpha Station 29 years ago so he kept agents out for any mention of her. He finally did hear something about her 18 years ago, but he was too late to send any operatives to retrieve her and her son. The slavers had beaten him to them. He had actually been angry when it all happened. Henry Lawson was still as arrogant as ever when he was given the data from Project Alpha. The fool had only skimmed over the data and took a mere basis from it before deleting it! Now what ever data they had to go on was gone because of him. The only thing salvageable was the subject who was born from it: Miranda Lawson and by extension her sister Oriana. Sadly however neither one of them were on Shepard's level of genetic modification. The Illusive Man was still irritated at the fact Henry only used his own DNA to create them, that prideful idiot! But he was getting off track now...

Taking a long drag from his cigar, enjoying the nicotine flavor he disposed of the bud left and exhaled the smoke as he lit another one. When he had found where both Shepard's had been living he immediately sent agents to retrieve them. Finally, Project Alpha would be able to resume. Finally, humanity would be perfected and take their rightful spot in the galaxy. But then the slavers got there and shattered any and all notion of that ambition. The Illusive Man saw the casualty and missing reports. Dr. Shepard had been on the casualty list, but her son John was not. So the Illusive Man played the waiting game for several years until the Ghost of the Terminus surfaced. He would have sent Cerberus agents to recruit the man, but he was obviously not concerned about humanity nor xenophobic enough to manipulate. He still kept eyes on the Ghost but wasn't interested until the report from Captain Anderson came in about Torfan. The Ghost was connected to Mindoir. The Illusive Man had quickly ordered his agents to compile any and all available data on both Ghost and Subject Alpha to see if they were the same person. That maybe there was still some hope of keeping humanity secure. He wasn't to sure until a few weeks ago... when humanities first spectre was chosen. He had immediately put eyes on Shepard to see when the best opportunity was to bring him in. He then clicked on John Shepard's file which pulled up multiple screens from when he was a kid to now when he was seen on Feros.

So it really was him. The Illusive Man had ordered that he brought in alive unless Shepard was too dangerous and so Agent Stanley took that as a go-ahead to kill him. Thinking back now, the Illusive Man should have sent one of his smarter agents but believed that because of Agent Stanley's training he was better equipped to capture Shepard. Instead he had sent a xenophobic psychopath to try and kill Shepard. The Illusive Man switched the screen to where Shepard was seen battling New Growth. He had to admit, Shepard turned out better than he thought. A shame that he wasn't as dedicated to humanity as he wished him to be. It would have made things easier.

'So you really have come into your own. Well that's not going to stop me from getting you back. I'm patient, but I don't have forever. I need someone to usher in a new age for humanity when I'm gone and who better to do that than you... son.' The Illusive Man thought as he continued to smoke his cigar while looking over Shepard's file.

Back in the Normandy's Med Bay

Shepard's eyes opened up as he looked at his surroundings. He knew he was in the med bay already, but he was curious as to who was in it. From what he could see Ashley was asleep as well as Chakwas. He quietly rose up and noticed the upper part of his fatigues were ripped up. Well no use crying over it now since Fred had basically shredded them with that omni-blade scissor slash. He took a closer look and noticed a very light x-shaped scar right in the middle of his chest.

'Damn, must have been deeper than I thought.' Shepard thought before looking at overhead display on his bed.

'I've been out for 2 days? That toxin was definitely something else. Wouldn't be surprised if all my genetics did was get an increased resistance to it.' Shepard continued to think as he got out of the bed and moved quietly to the exit. The doors opened easily as he continued walking. As he exited the med bay he saw that Tali and Liara were sleeping with their heads on the tables. He tipped toed to his room easily since he had become an expert of sorts when it came to stealth. When he entered his room he quickly scanned for anymore additional bugs but found none.

"Hmm whoever is spying on either doesn't have any other agents on board or has decided to wait for me to let my guard down. Maybe both.' Shepard thought as he looked around his room.

"You know, you had everyone worried. Even me." Isaac voiced his opinion out.

"Really now?" Shepard asked with a little amusement.

"Yes I was even considering revealing myself to them." Isaac said with a serious tone. Shepard's amusement vanished at the. Isaac and he had been best friends for years now and the one thing they always kept secret was Isaac's true identity. Not even Liselle knew about him.

"Look Isaac, your life is your's alone but as your friend I'd ask you not to reveal your existence unless you absolutely believe it's necessary." Shepard said.

"That situation came pretty close, luckily Chakwas figured out how to make an antidote before I could decide on anything." Isaac said. Shepard just smiled at him.

"What happened after I passed out?" Shepard asked curiously as he locked the door and began looking for a shirt to wear.

"After you went unconscious the others got to you and brought you to the med bay. As soon as you were lain onto the bed Chakwas ushered everyone out and immediately began to see what the problem was. That bastard Fred didn't tell you that the toxin also weakened your healing severely and even negated medi-gel to a degree. Chakwas took a blood sample and fashioned an antidote from it which did work but..." Isaac began to explain before trailing off.

"But what?" Shepard asked as he finally found a white t-shirt and put it on.

"Well the antidote and the toxin both took there toll on you and caused you to have a fever that kept you going in and out of cardiac arrest. Chakwas and Ashley were both worried constantly. Once you were stabilized everyone tried to visit you but Chakwas kept everyone out as she looked over your progress. That's pretty much it." Isaac finished. Well that explained a lot.

"Right then I see. Isaac listen, I appreciate..." Shepard began to say until he heard someone yelling.

"John Shepard, Ghost of the Terminus! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"That sounded like Chakwas." Both Shepard and Isaac said at the same time in fear and surprise respectively. That was when there was a series of huge bangs on his door. Shepard just stood there in fear, hoping she'd go away. Sadly the banging didn't cease it only got stronger.

"You know if you don't open it she'll break it down." Isaac said with mild amusement. He was always amused by how Chakwas could make Shepard cringe in fear.

"I don't doubt it." Shepard respond as he morbidly went to the door and unlocked it. Almost immediately the door opened and he came face to face with a visage of pure terror. It wasn't just Chakwas who was at the door, but also Liara and Tali. Chakwas wore a pissed off expression while Tali and Liara looked so mad that they had tears coming out of their eyes. Before he could say or do anything, Chakwas grabbed him by the ear and began to drag him to the med bay.

"You've got a lot of nerve just wandering out of my med bay after being unconscious for 2 days straight." Chakwas said as she continued to drag him by the ear.

"Ow, ow Chakwas I can explain OW!" Shepard complained.

"Shepard, you should not be out of bed. You've been sick for 2 days." Tali lightly scolded him.

"They're both right Shepard. For all we know the toxin could still be in your system. Especially since you nearly died a couple times." Liara said. The group entered the med bay to find Ash awake and glaring at Shepard.

"Uh Hey Ashley, how are you feeling?" Shepard asked awkwardly as Chakwas practically pushed him onto the bed beside her.

"I'm fine, You have however might not be." Ash retorted still glaring at him as he sat up on the bed.

"Take your shirt off. I need to see if your wounds have properly healed." Chakwas ordered. Shepard took his white t-shirt off revealing the x-shaped scar on his chest. He laid down as Chakwas began to use her medical equipment to scan him. As she did this the other women in the room couldn't help but admire Shepard's physique. Even though he didn't workout conventionally, he kept himself in shape by dodging and free running as well as fighting hand to hand. Also his genetics helped him take all kinds of nutrients from whatever he ate even though it was a relatively good diet. Hey he lived on Omega of all places and before that it was living with ruthless mercenary. Keeping himself decently fed was nothing short of miraculous. That being said, his physique wasn't bulky like the marines Ashley was used to seeing, not as skinny and nimble as quarian men like Tali grew up seeing sort to speak. He definitely wasn't like the asari Liara had grown accustomed to while growing up. (Jesus for some reason that felt wrong listing it like that.) Shepard was instead more compact and lean with a 6-pack going on 8-pack. In combination with his healing, Shepard was actually built for both speed and endurance. Even with all the firefights he had been in since his training with Zaeed, Shepard had never really gotten a scar before, but then again he had never let his opponent wound like Fred had.

The girls noticed that they had actually been staring at his broad chest and became embarrassed. Before either Shepard or Chakwas could notice their stares they quickly turned away with burning blushes.

'What the hell am I doing? He's been wounded!' Ashley thought as she tried to keep her blush down. It wasn't a strong argument seeing as Shepard was fully healed and she did like a man with scars. Her mind suddenly pictured her and Shepard in a military barracks making out behind the locker rooms. As they continued to make out, they started to undress each other as Ashley moaned at Shepard's light kisses on her bare neck. Things progressed from there. As Ashley's blush increased, Liara was having her own troubles.

'Goddess have mercy! I can't be ogling Shepard like he's a piece of meat while he's being... examined.' Liara thought before she began imagining herself 'examining' Shepard in Chakwas' place. As she dragged her hands slowly across his tone chest. Shepard gently gripped her hand and slowly pulled her to him. Liara noticed Shepard had laid his hand on her face and guided her in for a heated kiss as she laid with him on the bed. Liara face nearly went purple as her thoughts became more and more amorous.

Tali was dealing with her own thoughts as well. What she was picturing however was joining suits with Shepard. She found herself in a private bed chamber with Shepard. There were several massage oils and creams on a nearby nightstand with candles dotting the chamber as velvet curtains adorned it. She was slowly walking towards Shepard as the flickering candlelight made their shadows dance on the metallic walls. When they finally got within arms' reach, Shepard gently took her mask and dropped it onto to floor, knowing it would be fine. He then began to unbuckle her suit at a moderate pace before he finally had her undressed. He picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bed smoothly placed her on it stomach first. He got the massage oil out and began to massage her back with it. She sensually moaned from the heat of his touch as it began to spread all over her back. Shepard lowered his head to her ear and blew, hot breathe fluttering past her ear causing her to moan even louder. She couldn't take it anymore as she suddenly turned and grabbed him by the back of the head, pulling him into a heated kiss. That was as far she got before she noticed her mask had fogged up. She let out a depressing sigh believing that no matter how much she wished, Shepard would never look at her that. Even though he could see past her mask she knew it would be impossible to be with him. They were genetically incompatible and she could die by being together with him. (Okay that was the first time I ever wrote something like those. I hope it was ok.)

After a minute Chakwas stopped scanning him and noticed that the girls were in their own little worlds making her almost shake her head at them. Oh to be young again. She also noticed Tali's small depression making her frown. The young girl must be having a hard time, poor thing. Chakwas turned back to Shepard and saw him looking at them. So he's noticed too. She knew Shepard wasn't dense when it came to a girl's feelings even though he was dense about certain situations.

"Hmmm it appears you've made a full recovery Shepard. No toxins in your system and all the injuries you sustained have healed perfectly." Chakwas said to Shepard who looked at her.

"Thanks. Can I go now? We still need to help out Garrus and Wrex." Shepard said. Chakwas knew he wasn't the type to talk about his thoughts unless he wanted to. Nodding, she told him he could leave. Quickly putting his shirt back on, he walked out, but not before telling Liara and Tali to prepare for the mission coming up. Both girls nodded and walked to their quarters to change into their Colossus armors. Ashley heard this and got a depressed face since she couldn't go out on any missions until Chakwas cleared her. Even then she wouldn't be able to use her armor since it was destroyed. Chakwas noticed her state and decided to talk with her since it wasn't healthy to keep negative thoughts bottled up.

"What's wrong? Sad you can't go and fight with them?" Chakwas asked making Ashley look at her. She then looked down at her bed covers as she reflected on Chakwas' words.

"It's not just that. I hate feeling useless. Being in here recovering when I should be doing... I don't know, something." Ashley said annoyed at her situation. Chakwas smirked a little at Ashley's response.

"What's really getting on your nerves, Ashley?" Chakwas asked seeing there was more to it than what Shepard and the team would be doing. Ashley's frown increased as she thought back to that mission at the main geth base and later on when that Fred guy threatened everyone.

"I shouldn't have been taken down like that. Everyone else wasn't beaten like that. Not even Liara and Tali were hurt while I ended up here." Ashley said as she growled out the last part.

"You don't need to compare yourself to them. Besides Tali has tech expertise where she can hack a geth easily and Liara can stop a geth with her biotics while you need to stay in cover. I also know you can take much more damage than they could. Also from what they others told me, you fought a stronger one than the 2 of them did and you beat it." Chakwas said trying to ease her patients self-irritation. Ashley just snorted in response.

"And unlike them, you were poisoned which might have killed them outright, Tali especially. It takes a strong woman to fight that." Chakwas added. Ashley's frown lessened to a degree.

"It's not just that though. That... bastard who nearly killed Shepard threatened everyone here and I was actually afraid. I was helpless as I watched a madman threaten all of us and came very close to actually killing Shepard." Ashley said as her voice started to crack. The silence after was deafening for a minute before Chakwas responded.

"But the worst didn't happen. Your still alive and safe. Shepard and Kaidan saved you from those wounds and Shepard kept everyone safe by finding out about that psychopath. Granted I don't approve of his rash decision of immediately confronting him, but in the end I dare say that psycho would have succeeded if Shepard didn't go after him." Chakwas said. Ashley thought about what happened with the spy and then remembered what Chakwas said before that.

"What do you mean by Shepard and Kaidan? Last I knew Kaidan was the team's medic." Ashley asked. Chakwas smirked.

"When you were unconscious Shepard and Kaidan both treated you. You see, the bullets had gone completely through each lung, allowing blood to flow into your lungs. This caused you to nearly suffocate, but Shepard used his biotics to pull the blood out and away from your lungs. Sadly he had to rip open your armor and the shirt under it for Kaidan to apply the medi-gel." Chakwas said. Ashley smiled at how Shepard had come to her rescue before she remembered Chakwas' comment about Shepard ripping open her clothes.

'Wait a minute! H-H-He ripped open my clothes. H-H-He saw my chest!' Ashley thought frantically as she started to blush at her earlier thoughts when Shepard was present and wondered if he did something to her. Chakwas was now grinning at the soldier's predicament. It was fun watching all these young women stress over Shepard.

"Don't worry, Shepard was very professional about it." Chakwas reassured. Ashley's distress simmered down fast. Of course Shepard would be a gentleman about it, especially in that situation. Though a part of herself was wondering if he liked what he saw. A part of her which she beat down as fast as she could. Before anything else could be said Liara bounded out of the backroom, clad in her light Colossus armor and only having the Karpov pistol Shepard gave her. Ashley and Chakwas watched as she ran out to the CIC. Ashley sighed as she laid down to get more rest with Chakwas seeing her downtrodden expression. All she could do was shake her head.

With the squad.

As Shepard waited for the squad to assemble, he thought over what the situation. They found Saleon's, or should he say Heart's ship. From what Joker had told him the analysis of the ship it was close to his old ship, the Judgement. The MSV Fedele was a Kowloon class modular conveyor of human design. In addition to the standard cargo bay, the hull has several biological research modules attached. Makes sense seeing as how Heart was for lack of better word a maniacal geneticist. As the Normandy docked with the Fedele Joker decided to talk to Shepard.

"Shepard are you sure you should be up and out of bed?" Joker asked dragging Shepard out of his thoughts. The spectre turned to his pilot and smiled.

"I'm fine Joker. Chakwas saved me in time and I feel great." Shepard said.

"Well if your sure. By the way nice job taking out that colossal douche bag of a psychopath." Joker said with some fire. Shepard frowned at the thought of Fred. For the first time in years, someone had nearly killed him all by themselves. What was worse was the fact they knew about his genetics and had a way to counter them. Now he had a pile of questions and no shovel. What was this organization? How widespread were they? Did they have more people like Fred, people who were a combined class? That was a dangerous precedent. Shepard knew the only way someone could match him was by either a team of multiple people or... a multi-class person. Shepard thought over more things and believed it might be best to inform Anderson after completing a couple more missions. He noticed his squad was coming all clad in their Colossus armor. Shepard also noticed Garrus seemed to be excited.

'So he's excited about getting Saleon huh? Is it for better or worse?' Shepard thought as his eyes narrowed slightly at the turian with his arms crossed. Garrus noticed the stare too.

"Is their something wrong Shepard?" Garrus asked curiously. Everyone noticed Shepard's stare at the turian. The only one who had a pretty good idea was Wrex having seen the look on the turian before. He knew that was visage of a man ready to kill.

"We'll see." was all Shepard said as he turned to the airlock and began to switch over from ships. Everyone looked at him curiously before following him. Wrex knew what he meant by that though. There was someone on the ship that Garrus knew and was going to try to kill.

'Let's see what you will do Shepard.' The krogan thought as he brought up the rear.

Inside the Fedele

As the team entered, they noticed the silence. Shepard and Garrus were both more than a little anxious about since they half expected to hear screams of some sort, but no. All they heard was an eerie silence. The team slowly made their way to the main area before Shepard stopped them at the door.

"Wait a minute. I think I hear something." Shepard said before putting his ear to the door. Everyone stayed silent before Shepard began to hear the pitter patter of... bare feet? Shepard quickly used biotic pulse and began to map out the area out while finding out what they were dealing with. From what he could 'see' it was several humanoids but what threw him off was the fact their hands were different. He also felt that the room was filled with crates making it appear to be a maze of sorts or more like a cover area. He kept on feeling when he 'saw' what appeared to be a salarian. So Saleon is in the back. That meant whatever was roaming around between them and him was dangerous.

"I can sense there are around 6 creatures moving around in there. Garrus, Saleon is in the far back of the ship. We'll need to use close to mid range weapons. No use using a sniper rifle in here." Shepard said as he brought out his Master HMWSG. Everyone followed his example and brought their preferred close range weapon, or in Kaidan and Liara's cases their only ones. Garrus was growing eager as he took out his Breaker assault rifle. Shepard could feel the turian's growing anticipation at finally getting Saleon and it began to worry him a little. The door opened and the team stepped forward coming face to face with 2 crates stacked in front of them, the last line of cover. Shepard signaled that they split into 2 teams of 3. Once done, the 2 teams split and began attacking whatever was moving in the room. Shepard as well as everyone else was momentarily stunned at the creatures before them.

They were gray, bloated and their skin looked as if it were rotting away. Shepard was vaguely reminded of the Creepers back on Feros at how similar they were to each other. Unlike the creepers however these things didn't have plant-like flesh and the creepers didn't have veins showing on their body parts or any organs for that matter.

"It looks like Saleon has been doing more than cloning organs now." Garrus said before opening fire. Everyone else followed suit quickly after him. The creatures... the unfortunate test subjects... fell instantly. Shepard could tell that these weren't people anymore. Even though they looked vaguely human, which they might have been before, he knew that humans didn't have green blood or organic claws. Side effects of whatever that crazy ass salarian did to them. Shepard could feel rage starting to ignite in his heart at the atrocity. He looked around and could see that it was nearly taking over Garrus at this point. He noticed Tali was shaking at the sight of it with Kaidan trying to comfort the young girl. Shepard could see the way he was clenching his pistol meaning that he was dealing with some anger to at it too. He then looked to Wrex and saw that the krogan was keeping a stoic face, but if one looked at his eyes they could see some anger smoldering in them. Liara was in no better shape than Tali.

"G-Goddess. H-How could anyone do something like this?" She asked. Shepard calmed his rage and walked over to her and gave her a one arm hug. Feeling his embrace, she laid her head on his armored shoulder.

"People, bad people do these kinds of things because they feel that they can." Liara looked at him as he spoke. Everyone else heard him and looked to him as he spoke with his own stoic expression.

"They do these awful things because they care only for themselves. They believe that they can get away with it easily since no one can catch onto them. They don't feel any real remorse, any guilt. Only some form of messed up pleasure. But what they tend to forget is... that with good people like us around, their run can't last forever." Shepard said remembering his fight with the slavers. In a sense he can sympathize with Garrus, but because of this he knows the path Garrus is going to go down. Unlike Garrus however, his enemy made things personal right off the bat. Shepard knew that Garrus letting his emotions get the best of him over something like this was unnecessary.

"Come on let's go stop one of them today." Shepard said as he took his arm off Liara and approached the door to where he 'saw' Saleon. Garrus reigned in his rage for the moment and was immediately behind Shepard as he entered the corridor and made his way to the med bay. Everyone else was behind them with Liara and Tali both encourage by Shepard's words. Liara was staring at the back of the spectre though knowing what she was feeling wasn't a crush anymore.

'I guess I can't go back now.' The asari thought. As the door to the med bay opened, everyone saw a salarian. Shepard looked at him and immediately got a bad vibe.

'Yea this guy has crazy butcher written all over him.' Shepard thought.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving me from those things." Saleon said, playing innocent. Garrus and Shepard weren't buying it.

"Shepard that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." Garrus said in cold voice. Great now he was rubbing off on Garrus! As if Liara wasn't bad enough! Shepard watched Saleon's eyes widen before he shook his head.

"What? My name is Heart. Dr. Heart. Please, get me out of here." The salarian said as he looked at Garrus warily. Shepard could see the fear and recognition in the Saleon's eyes.

"Are you sure it's him?" Shepard asked watching Garrus now. It was fly or fall now with him.

"Positive." Garrus said nodding before looking to Saleon, glaring at him.

"There's no escape this time doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time." Garrus said making everyone look at him slight shock.

"You're crazy. He's crazy. Please don't let him do this to me." Saleon pleaded looking at Shepard desperately.

"We'll take him in and drop his ass off with the military." Shepard said as put away his shotgun. Garrus looked at him in shock.

"B-But... we have him. We can't let him get away. Not again." Garrus said trying to convince Shepard. Shepard shook his head no.

"If he dies, we'll never know what he's been up to since he left, or how he did it. We'll take him in, interrogate him, and he'll serve his time." Shepard explained in tone that broke no argument.

"I've.." Garrus started to say before he calmed down. "Okay your right." Garrus looked at Saleon with a glare that would have made Wrex think twice.

"You're a very lucky salarian. You owe him your life." Garrus growled, more like hissed out. The salarian's features changed instantly from innocently afraid to annoying sarcasm.

"Oh thank you so very much!" The salarian said before he walked back toward his desk. Shepard knew what he was doing before anyone else did and brought up his omni-bow out much to his team's shock. Garrus watched as Shepard didn't fire immediately almost as if he was... waiting for something! Garrus looked to Saleon and saw that salarian appeared to be getting some files out of desk before pulling out a pistol on everyone. Without further adieu, Shepard fired several omni-arrows at the salarian before he could fire. After 5 hits the salarian looked down at his punctured chest, blood dripping out of his mouth before looking back up and falling on his back, dead.

"Just as I thought. Stupidly arrogant." Shepard said as he deactivated his omni-bow and walk towards the desk. After a few seconds Garrus broke the silence.

"And so he dies anyway. What was the point of that?!" Garrus demanded.

"You can't predict how people will act Garrus, but you can how you'll respond. In the end that's all that really matters." Shepard said as he looked over the medical room.

"Yeah your right. You know I don't think I've ever met anyone like you, Ghost." Garrus said thinking over Shepard's actions. Shepard obviously did things his way but he did several different things. Maybe the situation he's in and it's circumstances affect his decisions. Maybe... he should start doing that too.

"God I hope so. If there were 2 of me running around the galaxy would be in utter chaos." Shepard said looking at Saleon's equipment while everyone chuckled at his little joke. It was stained with the blood of many species. Pale blue, violet, orange... and more than a few dark red. Thankfully his work has ended now.

'I hope they now have some peace where ever they are now.' He silently thought before looking at his crew.

"Come on everyone let's get out of this place." Shepard said as he told everyone to leave to the Normandy now. Shepard walked after everyone, thinking of what to do when he needed to help Wrex. His thoughts drifted to the organization after him. He briefly wondered when they will make their next move before shrugging it off. Come what may, he'll be ready to meet the challenge head on... with his team by his side.

* * *

Okay here it is. Cerberus finally getting some show time. The girls starting to feel more amorous towards Shepard. And to top it off we got to see some small character development. I'd say that was decent enough. Tell me what you think good, bad. I going to need to know how I did on those scenes Ashley, Tali and Liara thinking about you know what.

The winner for the poll is Biotic Pulse. I'll use pulse for short hand purposes on some things too.


	25. What the heck am I going to do?

Recap: "Come on everyone let's get out of this place." Shepard said as he told everyone to leave to the Normandy now. Shepard walked after everyone, thinking of what to do when he needed to help Wrex. His thoughts drifted to the organization after him. He briefly wondered when they will make their next move before shrugging it off. Come what may, he'll be ready to meet the challenge head on... with his team by his side.

Now

Shepard was back in his room, taking off his armor. As he finally got his gauntlets off he heard someone knock on the door. He made a quick once over himself and the room before saying, "Come in!"

To his surprise it was Wrex off all people.

"What's up Wrex?" Shepard asked. The krogan looked at Shepard for a moment before answering him.

"That was impressive with what you did with Garrus, Shepard." Wrex said. He had seen what Shepard had done to try and get Garrus to calm down with Saleon despite how it ended with Shepard killing the salarian. He mentally snorted at the thought of the late geneticist. Salarians had fucking minds like a maze. That salarian was the type that probably would have altered the genophage on a more fatal scale.

"Thanks Wrex. I've got to admit though, for a second there, I thought Garrus would go ahead and shoot him regardless of my decision." Shepard said as he walked out of his room with Wrex following.

"You and me both Shepard." Wrex said. Shepard looked back to his krogan friend and noticed the look on his face.

"What's on your mind Wrex?" Shepard asked having stopped walking. Wrex looked down before looking back up at him.

"Do you remember when I gave you those coordinates to that turian bastard Ton Actus?" Wrex said.

"Yeah?" Shepard asked nodding wondering what Wrex was talking about.

"Well I might have forgotten to mention that all I knew was that he was _somewhere _in the Argos Rho." The krogan mercenary said sheepishly. Shepard stared at his krogan friend. And stared. And stared. After a full five minutes he finally spoke.

"Are you telling me that all you know about the man we are hunting is that his name is Tonn Actus, he's turian and that he is somewhere in the Argos Rho cluster?" Shepard asked with a deadpan tone. Wrex actually looked nervous as Shepard continued to stare at him.

"Yeah." Wrex said.

"Not even a system location?" Shepard asked with a raised brow. Wrex shook his head no. Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Great, that means we could be searching that cluster for an entire week, maybe two weeks." Shepard said as he thought of what could be done.

"Yeah, sorry about that Shepard." Wrex apologized. Shepard looked at him again.

"Don't worry about it Wrex. Everyone makes mistakes." Shepard said.

"Thanks for understanding Shepard. And good job with stopping Garrus again." Wrex said as he walked to the elevator.

"Yea no problem Wrex." Shepard said as he walked to the CIC. As soon as he got up to the galaxy map, Joker called to him.

"Uh Hey Shepard, someone's calling for you." Joker said unsure of what to say. Shepard raised an eyebrow to his pilot.

"Really who?" Shepard asked wondering who was calling him at the Normandy.

Uhhh someone who's calling themselves... Aria T'Loak. You know her?" Joker asked. Shepard rose both eyebrows this time.

"Yea. She's my boss. Connect her to the comm room." Shepard said as he quickly made his way to the comm room. Joker eyes widened upon hearing that it was Shepard's boss of all people calling.

"Ummm sorry for the wait Miss T'Loak. I'm connecting you to Shepard now." Joker said as he quickly pressed a few buttons.

"Don't be sorry, just hurry the hell up and connect me dammit." Aria said before the comm connected.

'Jeez Shepard's boss can be a bitch.' Joker thought as he rolled his eyes. Shepard was in the comm as he waited for Aria to link up. After a minute, Aria's hologram appeared before him.

"Aria." Shepard said in a business tone.

"Shepard." Aria retorted.

"How have things been on Omega?" Shepard asked.

"Not bad. Ever since you reveled your identity to the galaxy, things have gotten more lively on Omega." Aria said with an annoyed stare.

"How lively are we talking here?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Lively as in people were in utter shock for a few seconds before cheering your name. Granted a lot of cursing got involved too from other criminals who were stopped because of you." Aria said smirking at him.

"Wow." Shepard said as he scratched the back of his head in mild embarrasment.

"Yeah, your going to want to watch your back. Now more than ever." Aria warned.

"You don't know the half of it." Shepard muttered before turning serious.

"What's the reason you called Aria? I know for a fact it wasn't to just chat." Shepard said as Aria's smirk vanished and turned into a serious frown.

"A woman going by the name of Helena Blake contacted me saying that she gave you a job to, for lack of a better word, whack her associates. From what she told me, you are behind schedule." Aria said. Shepard was mentally kicking himself for forgetting that.

"Whoops. Guess it slipped my mind." Shepard said. Seeing his response, Aria sighed closing her eyes in thought.

"While I wouldn't normally interfere in these kinds of things, I want you to do this as a chance to help me absorb this little crime syndicate of hers." Aria said.

"And so the truth comes out. Not that it wasn't obvious." Shepard said, crossing his arms. Aria glared at his attitude.

"Is that it?" Shepard asked.

"There is one other thing." Aria said as she too crossed her arms and began to glare at him making him freeze.

"It's about Lis, isn't it?" Shepard asked nervously. Aria nodded.

"After this whole business with Saren and the geth, you are comming back to Omega." Aria ordered darkly to him.

"Umm what exactly is wrong?" Shepard asked having a feeling he knew what it was.

"You, John Shepard, my Ghost of the Terminus, got my little girl... pregnant." Aria said growling at the end. Shepard froze when he heard that. The silence that followed was deafening for Shepard as he just stared at Aria who continued to glare at him. On the outside he wore a stoic expression, but on the inside he was freaking out.

'I'mgonnabeadad! I'mgonnabeadad! I'mgonnabeadad! I'mgonnabeadad!' He thought frantically. Part of him was happy. Part of him was terrified.

"R-R-Really? Umm W-Wow. I-I-I don't know what to say." Shepard said as he walked to and sat in the nearest chair. Aria continued to glare at him.

"The second you get back from this mission your going to come back here and die like a man. Do you understand?" Aria all but snarled. Shepard looked at her for a minute before smirking.

"Sorry Aria but I have no intention of dying now that I know I got a child on the way. Once I come back you can kick my ass all you want, but I'm staying for my daughter." Shepard said with full confidence. Aria's eye twitched at Shepard's response. After all the years he had worked for her, she has never once actually frightened or intimidated him. No mater how hard she tried, he always responded with confidence. It irritated her greatly.

"Hmph, fine. If you're serious about what you say then get your ass back here after you finish with Saren. Liselle misses you terribly and I'll be damned if my daughter raises her child without a father! And don't forget that business with Helena Blake. I want you to see if she can't join that little organization of hers with mine." Aria said before her hologram winked out. Shepard on the other hand just sat there, numb at the shocking news: He was going to be a father.

'I-I still can't believe it. I'm actually going to be a dad!' Shepard thought excitedly. He quickly got up and walked out of the comm room in a trance. Shepard wore a gentle smile as he walked towards the cockpit. During the walk however, he realized something. Since joining the Normandy he had come to view them all as family or at least close friends, but with the fact that Liselle was pregnant with his child he was going to have to leave them after this. He knew Aria wouldn't let them move anywhere away from Omega. If she would, he would have moved them immediately to Ilium. Right on the border: All the darkness of the Terminus mixed with the refinery of the Council. Before he knew it, he found himself right behind Joker's seat.

"Joker I need you to go to the planet Mavigon in the Han system of the Gemini Sigma cluster. Can you do that?" Shepard.

"On our way right now." Joker said without turning around. Shepard nodded and walked as he continued to think things over. Chances were the only one he would be able to maintain contact with would be Wrex considering a bounty hunter had much use in the Terminus while Alliance soldiers won't have much clearance out there. Liara might be able to keep in contact but it was slim to none. Tali and Garrus wouldn't be much better at keeping in contact either. As he brought himself out of his thoughts, he found himself in the crew bay. Thinking about his current dilemma, he believed that there was only one person who could help him here.

'I never thought I would go to her for advice.' Shepard thought as he walked to the med bay. As its doors slid open, he saw Ashley was asleep and Chakwas was typing medical reports. The doctor turned to him from hearing her med bay doors open.

"Shepard. I never thought I'd see you come into my med bay willingly." Chakwas said smirking until she saw the troubled look on his face. "Shepard what is it?"

"I uh," Shepard said as he stuttered making Chakwas raise an eyebrow at him.

"Yes?"

"C-Can I talk to you in private, please?" Shepard asked. Chakwas nodded and walked out as he led the way to his room. When she entered it, he quickly sat on the bed and looked to be thinking over his words. As the door closed he begn talking.

"I just got some news recently and I need some advice." Shepard said without looking at her specifically.

"Why me? I would think that Kaidan may be a better choice." Chakwas said crossing her arms in thought.

"Well to me you seem more wiser than Kaidan and Wrex, being the only other person who could probably help, I doubt that he would be... caring enough to take it seriously." Shepard said as he wrung his hands nervously.

"Well okay then. What kind of news would cause you to come to me?" Chakwas asked as she took a seat in the chair across from him. Shepard cleared his throat before answering.

"I have recently learned that... I'll be becoming a dad within 9 months." Shepard said as he looked at her. Chakwas eyes widened at his answer.

"I-I don't know what to say to that. Umm congradulations?" Chakwas said trying to get things straightened out after that bombshell.

"Uh Thanks." Shepard said awkwardly. A silence permeated the room before Chakwas broke it.

"Soooo is that it?" She asked.

"No umm, over the course of being here, I've become... attached to everyone mostly. The thing is chances are I'm going to be unable to move the baby and her mother away from Omega while being able to stay in contact with everyone. And I know that when this Saren business is over, I'm going to be faced with a choice." Shepard explained.

"To either stay with us or go and raise your child." Chakwas said seriously.

"I know, I know. I have no intention of leaving my child fatherless, hell I know what it's like to grow up like that, but now... I don't want to break off all contact from you all too." Shepard explained as he looked down at his feet. Chakwas wore a light smile as she watched him. It made her happy that he wanted her advice over everyone else's. It showed that he took her word seriously. Now that she thought about it she realized that in front of her wasn't the rude man who was brought into her med bay after Eden Prime, but now in his place was a mature man trying to keep everything together while struggling to figure a way to keep his friends close as well as spend time as a father.

'And to think the baby hasn't even been born yet.' Chakwas thought, still smiling.

"I believe your going to have make a choice here instead of finding some middle ground. I'm sorry Shepard but I can't help you here. In my opinion as much as I would like for you to keep in contact with everyone, being there for your child takes precedence over that." Chakwas said as she looked at his expression. Shepard had the look of a man who was having a hard time making a big descion. She quickly got up and prepared to leave before patting him on the shoulder.

"Whatever you choose, I want to say I support you and congradulations Shepard." Chakwas said before leaving. After she exited the room Isaac spoke as Shepard's omni-tools lit up.

"So becoming a dad uh?" Isaac said.

"Yeah." Shepard responded.

"Are you really ready for this? I'm mean I wouldn't know much about these things, but I do know it can be a big deal for organics." Isaac asked thinking Shepard could use someone to talk to about this.

"No, not really but who is?" Shepard said while chuckling at the end. Isaac could see that his friend was very nervous about it though.

"Well I think you will be a... decent enough father i suppose." Isaac said with a fake tone. Shepard glanced at his omni-tools and gave a dry glare.

"Decent enough?" He asked. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that-

"Well I can't exactly give you a perfect score. I'm mean look at yourself: you fight most days with either words, guns, tech or biotics at least twice a day. When you get really depressed you drink like a hanar on Kahje and lets not forget your not exactly the most faithful of lovers in an organic coupling." Isaac listed off trying to make Shepard forget his troubles. From what he was seeing, it was working. That last one really got him.

"Not faithful? What the hell are you talking about? Ever since she broke up with me I haven't had so much as a real relationship! Not even a one night stand either!" Shepard defended. He knew he couldn't defend against the fighting and the drinking was only because of real bad times, but that last one wasn't going to slide.

"Okay let's see the data we've collected since the break up shall we? Ever since you've saved and stood up for both Ashley and Liara, they have been interested in you." Shepard winced.

"Let's not forget that since saving them from the Thorian, they have been a little less subtle since both of them kissed you on the cheek. And we both know you're interested too." Shepard was about to say something until Isaac cut him off.

"Don't even say anything, I'm not through yet. Now let's see. I've caught you enjoying their actions too. Not only that but I have seen you stare at them too. And then there was that silence in the med bay when they turned away during your examination. Don't think I didn't see you looking them either, not to mention that their body temperatures raised up around the cheeks and erogenous zones." Isaac continued on making Shepard get embarrassed.

"Christ what is it with you organics and hormones? It was like a fire got lit right between their legs, seriously." Isaac complained.

"Isaac!" Shepard chided before he started to snicker at his friend's small joke. If Isaac had been in his hologram form, he would have had a smile on.

"Seriously though, what do you think you should do now?" Isaac asked. Shepard stopped snickering and held a more relaxed expression than he had before.

"I'm going to need more to time think things through, but right now I'm going to put it on the backburner. I mean I don't need to choose right now do I?" Shepard said as he got up.

"No I suppose not." Isaac agreed.

"And Isaac... thanks I needed that." Shepard said gratefully.

"No problem. Someone's gotta watch out for you anyway." Isaac joked before the omni-tools went off. Shepard smirked before walking out. All this worrying had him hungry.

A Couple Days Later

The whole team was on Mavigon inside the mako. Shepard was silently grateful that the mako could resist the frigid temperatures of the planet. He drove with everyone towards the location that was given to him by Helena Blake. After a few minutes a silent driving, they made it to the coordinates when they were suddenly fired on by three heavy turrents. All it took to beat those was some dodging and careful firing. After the turrents were out Shepard could see that the entrance to the crime boss' base was the type usually for an underground medical research station. He relayed it towards everyone making them think over the layout. Upon knowing the standard layout allowed them to have a rough idea of what kind of cover spots that can be used. Quickly moving into the main control room, everyone used their respective abilities with Tali, Garrus and Shepard using overload on several of the mercenaries.

Almost instantly Wrex was double-teamed by two krogan mercs. He was able to kill one by shooting his face off with his shotgun, but the other charged him and began to push him back. Seeing this, Wrex used his biotics to lift the krogan merc and keep him suspended in mid-air before finishing him off.

Garrus had seen the 2 snipers in the far back. Taking cover, he quickly got out his sniper rifle and set his sights on them. As soon as one of them popped out to try and kill Kaidan, Garrus immediately took the merc out with a headshot. The other sniper saw his fellow sniper's head explode as a result with blood and gore spraying out. This startled the sniper into taking one step back out of cover and into Garrus' line of sight. Without even blinking, Garrus took the shot ending the remaining sniper.

Tali, Liara and Kaidan ended up fighting the other mercs. Liara ended up using warp on her enemy before using a biotic blast on him, sending the poor bastard flying into the wall. Liara noticed he hadn't started to move so she walked. When she finally got close enough she saw that the merc's neck was bent at an odd angle. Her eye's went wide at the sight and realized that unlike the all the other times she had gotten into a fight that this was actually the very first time she killed someone with her bare hands.

Tali had ended her oppenent quickly with an overload and carnage combo courtesy of her shotgun. It didn't bother her much since it wasn't really her first real kill. Kaidan finished his opponent with a quick neural shock and dual omni-blade slash, tearing out the merc's throat.

The Crime Boss could see that he was outnumbered as all of this happened and ran further back into the base as he saw Shepard stalk toward him. Shepard didn't even bother to run after him, knowing that most bases like this only have one entrance and exit. Besides, most criminals think that once they have found a safe and remote place like this they don't even bother to think of an emergency escape anyway. Shepard continued to use Pulse to keep track of the Boss as he continued deeper into the base. After a minute, the boss had stopped having come to last room which held all of the power generators. He silently entered the room before locking the door behind him.

'Got to think, got to think. How could they have found me? Doesn't matter now. I need to find a way out fast.' The Crine Boss thought as he looked for a way but realized it was a dead end. He noticed the generators and began to plot something.

Shepard kept following until he came to a locked door. He had Isaac hack through the door easily. He would have done it himself but he thought Isaac should have some involvement in the missions, no matter how small. As the door opened, he walked in and saw the Crime Boss at the wall furthest from the door. Shepard would have continued to move forward if he hadn't noticed something was off.

'He's calm in here. Does he have some kind of trick up his sleeve?' Shepard thought as he narrowed his eyes, scanning the room. His Pulse was useless since he was too close to the generators which were causing interference. He could see that the crime boss was smirking at him.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? I'm right here." The Crime Boss said. Shepard disabled the lights and slunk back into the shadows. The Crime Boss looked for him as the red back lights came on, but Shepard had effectively disappeared from his sights. The Crime Boss hit the deadman's switch in his hand knowing whatever happened to him, if his thumb came off the button, the generators would self-destruct with the mines he had equipped to them. He frantically looked for any sign of movement until he felt the barrel of a pistol at the back of his head.

"Aria T'Loak and Helena Blake send their regards." A cold voice said before Ghost pulled the trigger. The Crime Boss fell to the ground, dropping the detonator, dead with a hole going from the back of his head to right between his eyes. Shepard looked at the dead man in front of him before he heard a beeping sound. He didn't have time to identify what was making as the beeping accelerated. On instinct he burst out of the room with a mix of adrenaline and biotics. He had just barely gotten to the door when the explosions started. He kept moving until the blast had knocked him off his feet and the shrapnel got him on his right arm.

"Dammit, that hurts." Shepard groaned out as he kept back up. His arm stung in protest at the movement but he kept on going. He limped over to where he had left, feeling that some of the shrapnel caught him in his right leg too. He kept limping until he came to the control room his team was in. Kaidan was the first to see him.

"Shepard! My god what the hell happened?" Kaidan said as he ran to Shepard. Everyone saw Shepard's state and the trail of blood behind him before moving to him. Shepard didn't answer as he stumbled forward only for Kaidan to catch him.

"What the hell happened?" Wrex asked.

"Deadman switch." Shepard said before passing out. Kaidan quickly looked him over and found that his armor had been pierced by multiple splinters of metal and glass.

"We need to get to the Normandy fast." Kaidan said hefted Shepard over his shoulder and carried him to the exit with everyone following.

An Hour later in the Normandy's medbay

Chakwas was currently still picking out bits of shrapnel from Shepard's forearm. She had managed to patch up his leg quite easily considering they hadn't gone as deep as the one's in his arm. She currrently kept him in a medically indused coma seeing as how he really didn't like being near medical equipment or having things removed from him surgically. She had to admit though, most would have been groaning or hissing even while unconscious, but Shepard was only wincing a little. Must be made of sterner stuff than she thought. She also took the time to notice that when she extracted the shrapnel, the wounds would start to close. If she had to guess it must be that the wounds heal as much as they can while the offending object is inside, but it won't heal completely until it was removed. After another hour she had finished extracting all of the shrapnel from his arm. She couldn't help but marvel at how well he had healed from it in such a short time. She did some scans to be sure if there was any more internal injuries, though she wasn't surprised that there wasn't any damage. That was when she took Shepard off the medication.

"You know, out of everyone who is on this ship, you're the one who gets sent here the most Shepard." Chakwas said as she put away her tools. Shepard sat up carefully before looking at Ashley who was reading a book. He then looked at Chakwas who was staring at him, waiting for a response.

"Yea but I'm usually the fastest one out too." Shepard retorted as he got up and grabbed his white t-shirt that Chakwas had placed right beside his bed. He looked toward Ashley before asking, "How are you feeling Ash?"

Ashley looked at him before responding with, "Good. Still hate being in recovery but at least this book will keep me from climbing the walls."

Shepard chuckled at her response. Of course she would probably be the only person reading something besides Liara. He had chanced upon seeing everyone getting examined after Feros and couldn't help but smirk at them. Liara and Ash were reading something. Garrus and Wrex were cleaning their sniper rifle and shotgun respectively. Tali was tinkering with her omni-tool and Kaidan was playing with his biotics. It was very amusing to Shepard.

"Well don't worry. I'm sure you'll be out in no time." Shepard said smiling. Ashley smiled back at him.

"Maybe you can get out of here fast but I can't. I still have a week left." Ashley said. Shepard looked sheepish at her response. He kept thinking that humans had the same regeneration abilities as he did for some reason. He then felt Liara's biotic signature whirling around.

'Something as her stressed out.' Shepard thought before bidding Chakwas and Ashley goodbye. He went to the backroom where he found Liara curled up into a ball rocking herself in the corner. Shepard waited for the door to close before asking what was wrong. Liara flinched having not noticed he had come into the room before answering him.

"S-Shepard I-I killed one of them." Liara managed to get out. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her.

"And? I thought you said you had taken care of things like this before?" Shepard asked confused. Liara shook her head no.

"I did say that I could handle it with my biotics but I've never really killed anyone before. Only knocked them out." Liara said as she continued to rock herself back and forth. Shepard sighed before walking to her and sitting down beside her.

"So it was your first real kill then?" He asked gently. Liara only nodded her head. Shepard put an arm around her while she leaned in to his embrace.

"It is rarely easy the first time, hell it rarely gets easy ever for anyone." Shepard said.

"What about you?" Liara asked making him look at her.

"What?"

"What about you? Was it easy for your first kill?" Liara asked again. Shepard thought over his first kill or should he say _kills. _

_John felt his blood boil in rage. For John things started to slow down as he took is stiletto pistol, aimed at one the guys heads and fired. With a load crack, the guy on the left died from having his head explode. The one on the right was shocked and looked behind to see who would dare attack a warrior of the Hegemony from behind. That was when John finally saw who was invading his home. At first he thought it was pirates from how human they looked from the back, but now he knew it was something far worse than human pirates. The beast he looked at had sharp teeth, multiple nostrils and four eyes. John knew now what was attacking his home: batarian slavers! The batarian was shocked. __'This puny little brat actually killed one of my comrades? This child could be more trouble alive later on!' The batarian thought. He made a move to shoot John, but just before he could he was shot in the chest by the young terror._

"Yea. For me it was pretty easy." Shepard said remembering that day. Liara looked at Shepard in shock.

"How?" She asked nearly speechless. Shepard didn't answer immediately, thinking of how much he should tell her before explaining.

"If you saw 2 batarian slavers beating your mother to death, what would you do?" He asked her in a dead tone. Liara got quiet at the unexpected question, looking down at the ground.

'Of course it would have been easier for him the first time. He's lost so much it has to be easier for him to take things back.' Liara thought seeing how strong Shepard could be.

"But you know, I think it's better that one feels some remorse when we kill." Shepard continued making her look up at him.

"I think that feelings of emorse and guilt actually help keeps us people instead of monster who just kill and kill. I mean when you fight and kill someone, there has to be a reason right? Even kill of be killed is a good reason in some cases too." Shepard said wondering if what he was saying was for Liara or himself. He still had some traces of guilt about the things he's done here and there over the years.

"I'm sorry Shepard. I've put my problems on you again." Liara said sniffling a little. Shepard looked at her this time with some shock.

"It's no trouble Liara. I like to help my friends." Shepard said getting up and lending her a hand to do the same. Liara stood up and gave him a hug.

"Thank you for coming to make sure I was fine." Liara said letting go with a smile.

"Like I said it's no trouble." Shepard said before leaving. He quickly made his way up to the cockpit to tell Joker to get them to Klensal in the Dis System of the Hades Gamma Cluster. They needed to get to the other Crime Boss before he finds out what happened after all.

In the outer reaches of the Kite's Nest

"Sir, now that we know who he is we can finally deal with him and restart slaving operations. All we need is the go ahead!" A batarian grunt said eager to kill the Ghost of ther Terminus. Most of his comrades had been watching the trial of Saren when the Ghost of the Terminus revealed himself. To say the announcement had caused an uproar was a massive understatement. Many of them who had family working as slavers had lost someone to him and his little crusade several years ago. Many were calling for his head on a spike while a few more were saying they should capture him and force him to be a slave. They were almost ready to send out multiple mercenary and pirate groups after him, but then his very unexpected spectre inauguration crippled that dream. Some still wanted to go after him but the ring leaders were more than a little cautious for several reasons. One being that this man had effectively crippled their operations before in just a few years. The second and third reasons was that he was also the current person who could practically walk free in any place in the galaxy because he was a Council Spectre and Aria T'Loak's Spectre Equivalent. Taking on someone with just one of those titles would be difficult. With both, it was near impossible.

"No! Don't you get it?! We can't just attack whole-heartedly! We need a careful plan or at least wait for him to lose one of those positions! Are you stupid enough to cross both Aria AND the Council?!" The batarian leader growled out while slamming his fist on the table.

"Please the only one we should really be concerned about his Aria. The Council will just cry about it for a couple before shrugging it off like they did before those humans came onto the scene." Another batarian said, eager for blood. All the while only one other batarian was in room and kept quiet. Normally he would be speaking out about trying to kill Ghost as well but he was smarter than that. He didn't have anyone on Elysium or Torfan like the other 2, but what Ghost had done had practically damaged a major source of income and resources for the Hegemony and that wasn't going to slide. Such acts of terrorism would not go unpunished.

"Yes and do you really want to spurn one of the few allies we have left by killing one of her agents? And what of the Alliance? Those fools see him as a hero more than the butcher that he is." The second one retorted.

"ENOUGH!" The quiet batarian shouted. All his fellow comrades instantly shutup and look toward him in fear. They knew better than to disobey him. He quietly stood up and came into the light in the dark room. Unlike his other comrades who looked similar to each other in appearance, he wore red heavy armor and had yellow marks on the side of his head showing his station as a captain for the Hegemony External Forces. For a batarian he was a very well built, obviously due military training. Some of his own comrades would not have obeyed him if it were not for his reputation as one of the best military officers in the Hegemony with all four of his eyes showing a very lethal intelligence.

"This man has made a mockery of us time and again since he was 16. Ever since he showed up, we have tried over and over to find him with brute force. We never thought that he would become so strong as to cripple one of the Hegemony's vital trades. We can not keep falling into his traps! He obviously let himself be known because he knows we are currently unable to touch him and even if we were able to, he has obviously prepared for it. Now this is what we shall do. We will send small groups of soldiers under the guise of getting revenge, but in actuality are going to study his moves, strengths and weaknesses." He said. One by one, each of his comrades gained a look of determination and nodded.

"And when we know all that there is about him, we will strike when he least expects it!" He roared. His compatriots all agreed with him before the more cautious one voiced his thoughts at the last second.

"But how will we lead him to us... Captain Balak?" He asked. Balak smirked at the question.

"Isn't it obvious? We take his crew when he seperates from them." Balak responded before laughing with his comrades joining in.

* * *

Oh man! I'm so sorry that I took this long! College is keeping me busy and tired. I literally start at 9 in the morning and don't finish till around 4:45 most days. But it's here finally and whoohooo! 150K on the word count! Tell me what you think about this chapter. Happy Reading!


	26. An affirmation of who I am

Recap: Last time Shepard comforted Liara over her very first kill while we saw that the batarians were planning on getting revenge on him for his crusade.

Now

Shepard and co. were now driving on the frozen planet of Klensal towards the second crime boss' base except this time Kaidan was driving. Shepard decided to let Kaidan drive on the account he was thinking over some things.

'Now that I think about it, I've let myself get injured too easily recently. I mean that Fred guy was acceptable somewhat since he was a trained spy and I had nothing to go on with him, but that crime boss shouldn't have gotten the drop on me so easily!' Shepard thought in frustration. That crime boss was no where near his level. If he didn't no better he would think he was starting to lose his edge.

'Well no more. I'm not gonna let someone like that catch me off guard again. It's insulting!' Shepard thought before Garrus pulled him out of his thoughts.

"See Shepard? This is how you should drive when we are on a ground mission." Garrus said with a turian grin. Shepard gave a glare at his turian friend.

"Very funny Garrus, but with me at the wheel there is one thing that won't happen." Shepard replied grinning back. Garrus looked at him confused.

"Oh yea wh-" Garrus said before Kaidan hit a pothole causing Garrus to slam his head on the wall.

"No surprise bumps." Shepard responded with a cheeky grin. Garrus didn't retort as he was groaning and massaging his head crest.

"Sorry!" Kaidan apologized from the front. Garrus gave a weak glare at the driver in response while Shepard chuckled at the situation. Tali spoke up next.

"So what do we know about this planet?" She asked. Before Liara, who had done some research, could say anything, Shepard beat her to it.

"Klensal has a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide and ethane. Its first geological surveys were performed by batarians, and suggested areas of great mineral wealth. Human mining concerns spent billions of credits hustling to the distant system and sinking test bores to claim the planet for humanity. But in actuality had only an average level of mining wealth. While valuable, obviously not worth the rush and expense poured into it. Later investigations revealed the batarian crew had deliberately falsified their surveys, hoping it would encourage human rivals to invest in a costly boondoggle. While unethical, this was not technically illegal, and the batarian government disavowed the 'personal actions of a few misguided patriots.' To this day, the planet is still littered with abandoned mining bases, which are probably often used as temporary meeting places for criminals." Shepard said having looked into it through the use of Council archives as well as his contacts in the Terminus. He noticed everyone was looking at him strangely.

"What?" Liara spoke first.

"It's usually you who is asking for information." She responded.

"Yea she's right." Wrex seconded with everyone else nodding.

"Force of habit. Happens when you usually work alone." Shepard responded. Okay that was a lie. Isaac would help from time to time on information like that when they both would work, but no one else knew about him so fair game. Everyone accepted his answer as they made their way to one of the mines near them. After a few minutes of putting their helmets on, they exited the mako and entered into the mine shaft.

Inside the mine Shepard took point with Wrex behind him followed by Garrus and Tali with Kaidan and Liara in the back. After making their way down the shaft, they were attacked by the Crime Boss and his goons. It didn't take them long to kill off the thugs.

Garrus took out the 2 snipers in the back just as easily as he did on Mavigon.

Wrex immediately managed to shotgun blasted one merc while fighting 2 others in close combat. Obviously they lost considering Wrex headbutted one and heavy warped the other.

Liara, Kaidan and Tali took on the final 2 mercs with Liara using a singularity while Kaidan and Tali used their weapons to kill the floating goons.

As for Shepard he made his way to the Crime Boss who ran to the back.

'Just like last time.' Shepard thought with a small smirk. Fools will be fools. He slowly stalked after him as the Boss continued further into the mine. After a minute of walking Shepard found his target waiting for him.

"So who was it that sent you here?" The Boss asked. Shepard raised an eyebrow at the man.

'He's smarter than the other one that's for sure.' Shepard thought.

"Aria and Helena." He responded.

"So that old bitch is finally making her move eh? I was wondering who would go first: Her or me." The Boss said chuckling at the situation.

"Yea they both send their regards." Shepard said stepping into the area. The shaft door closed behind him though he didn't pay much attention it. Shepard stared at him for a moment before his biotic aura flared. Suddenly a beeping sounded out through the cavern they were inside of. Shepard looked and finally noticed some type of explosive device, obviously a makeshift from the amount of wires sticking out of it.

"You kill me it goes off." The Boss said simply, showing the device monitoring his vital signs. Shepard narrowed his eyes at the man. He was obviously smarter than the last one. He looked back at the door noticing it was locked. Shepard looked back at the man and raised his omni-tool at him. The Boss flinched for a moment thinking Shepard was going to kill them both. Instead Shepard used a Neural Shock on him. As the Boss collapsed, Shepard walked over and had Isaac hack the settings on the bomb, synchronizing it to his omni-tool. Shepard then turned to the door and hacked through it easily. He walked out as the Boss watched in confusion before Shepard closed the door and locked it. For a moment he didn't know what was going on. Was he going to be left here to rot? The bomb began beeping again answered his silent question. The Boss' eyes widened realizing what was going to happen.

"Damn you Hele-!" was all he was able to say before the bomb exploded. Shepard continued on to where his team was afterwards.

"You know I actually think these guys are getting more and more crafty." Isaac said through Shepard helmet comm. Knowing that Isaac would only talk when it was safe to come out, and also took the time to create a seperate channel known only to the both of them.

Shepard responded, "Yea I think you're right. Though not by much."

"True, I mean it was crafty with the bomb and all, but it was obvious he didn't think things through." Isaac retorted with a small laugh in his voice.

"Yep." Shepard said as he got to where the rest of the crew was. Isaac cut off from there and switched Shepard back to the crew's channel.

"Shepard what was that explosion?" Kaidan asked.

"Killed the Crime Boss with his own explosive. Come on, we're done here." Shepard said as he continued walking to the entrance. Everyone followed him immediately.

"No getting caught in the blast this time?" Garrus asked cheekily. Wrex laughed at Garrus' jab at Shepard.

"No not this time. Who knows it could be you next, Garrus. I mean you always seem to like rushing in most of the time... oh wait that's Wrex." Shepard said nonchalantly. This time Liara, Tali and Kaidan laughed at the two while they snorted a Shepard's come back.

* * *

A few days later in the Normandy's Cargo Bay.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Ashley asked with everyone surrounding Shepard as he took his weapons from the workbench. She had gotten the all clear to walk around the ship, but she wasn't cleared for combat for at least a few more days. Shepard had just told everyone that he was going to go down to Amarathine, the planet that Helena Blake wanted to meet on, alone.

"Yes I'm sure." Shepard said as he finished equipping his guns. Turning around, he could see everyone was more than a little doubtful of his decision.

"Look it's not my first time doing one of these little missions Aria has me do every now and then. I can take care of myself down there, besides something tells me all of you would just unsettle her mercenaries. I'd rather it not come to that." Shepard said as he moved to the mako. After entering it, he waited for everyone to vacate the area while Joker descended to the drop off point. When the doors opened, he hit the throttle and raced out. The drop was uneventfull to him besides the landing when the mako's tires almost skidded on the ice covered ground.

"Seriously! What is with these crime lords and ice covered planets!" Shepard said out loud in frustration. He quickly made his way to the meeting spot. After a minute he kept going until he was sure that coordinates were insight but he couldn't see them.

"What the hell? There's nothing here." Shepard thought as he kept driving forwards until he came towards a crater. Down hidden in the crater was base of sorts.

'Okay that explains things.' Shepard thought before driving towards it. He moved slowly, being cautious since Helena was the one who actually went on the offensive before her partners. Who knows what she could have set up for him?

After a few minutes of making his way slowly towards the base, he realized that there was nothing around. He exited the mako and found the door unlocked. He entered easily enough coming inside the usually hall like rooms bases like those had. He walked toward the next before he decided to use his biotic pulse to see what was going on inside the compound. From what he could tell, there were several mercenaries including 2 krogan as well as what appeared to Blake herself walking to the door.

"Isaac I want you ready to use my tech abilities just in case things go south here." Shepard ordered.

"Right." Isaac responded seriously. Both knew that while Shepard was good at all kinds of attacks, he wasn't as fast when using them. With Isaac focusing on tech abilities Shepard could concentrate more on his weapons and biotics. Combined with Isaac's great analysis and technical speed, the Ghost of the Terminus was a combative force to be reckoned with. Shepard quietly walked up to the door and opened to find Helena Blake right in front of it.

"Ah, hello again Ghost. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Even though it took so long." Helena said with a pleasant smile.

"Yeah sorry about the wait. Some things came up which needed my immediate attention." Shepard apologized. Helena waved it off.

"Oh it's no trouble at all now. In fact it was quite worth it if I do say so myself." Helena said with that smile still showing.

"Oh?"

"Yes. With my former partners dead, this syndicate is now mine. I really could not have done it without you." She continued.

"Those men deserved to die. Now are we going to have a problem?" Shepard asked gesturing to himself and Helena when he said 'we'. Helena's smile turned into a smirk.

"Not if I can help it, Ghost. I hope you can see that I am by far a lesser evil than those men." Helena said in confidence.

"Really?" Shepard asked with skeptiscism. Blake nodded.

"Really. Under my leadership, this organization will restrict itself to gambling and smuggling illegal technologies. There will be no drugs and no slave-taking for the batarians, or anyone for that matter. Those days are over." Blake explained. Shepard found himself nodding at her plan. He really didn't care about the drugs but he was sure the slave part was meant specifically for him considering any slaver of any kind was on his list. That was when he decided to speak up again.

"Good, very good. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to do two things now. 1 for my employer Aria and 1 for me." Shepard said making eye contact with her. Helena kept her composure and merely raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Oh? What are they?" She asked subtly signaling her men to prepare themselves. Shepard noticed it too and began to explain.

"Nothing that will be out of bounds for you I'm sure. In fact it may be beneficial in some ways." He said charmingly. Blake looked very interested now. See it as his cue he continued.

"You see when you told Aria about this whole thing, she wanted you to join her in a sense. Merge your operation with hers." Blake looked to be reluctant so Shepard decided to sweeten the pot.

"You would still have control of your organization. It would merely be a satellite of hers in actuality and besides Aria can be very generous. From what I know you may become one of her lieutenants and enjoy certain protections that others don't on Omega. To be honest, Omega would suit you perfectly." Shepard said. Blake was silent for a few moments before answering.

"Very well. I'll merge my organization to hers." She said.

"Excellent." Shepard responded. That went better than he thought.

"Now what is your request?" Blake asked wondering what the Ghost of the Terminus would ask for. Shepard stared for a minute before answering.

"I know that crime rules on Omega. Nothing can change that, I know. But it does not mean there can't be some good on that station either. So I ask you this: Continue your operations but I'd like you to operate a small business on the side." Shepard said.

"What kind?" She asked.

"I'd like you to have a social business." He said seriously.

"Wait a minute. Your asking me to be a social worker part time?" Blake asked confused and somewhat shocked at his request. Shepard nodded.

"While it may seem like a hopeless job over there, believe me, it needs it more than most. Also that kind of job requires someone that truly understands how things work, which make you uniquely qualified." Shepard explained.

"Why don't you do it?" Helena asked.

"I wish I could but sadly I'm busy trying to keep things stable over there in my own way. Taking down those that disrupt the peace over there as well as saving and protecting those who don't have the strength to fight back. I'm a fighter, not someone who can help everyone in their daily lives by talking it out." Shepard finished. Blake mulled the idea over for a few minutes before answering him.

"Hmmm. I'll try it for a little while but don't expect me to keep helping them." Helena said. Shepard nodded at her answer.

"That's all I ask." Shepard responded before turning and walking to the door. On the way out he said, "You're going to have to talk it over with Aria about joining up."

He suddeny turned around before leaving. "And by the way... you wouldn't happen to no where a turian by the name of Tonn Actus is would you?"

"Ummm. Actually yes. He was a customer of mine before he stole something from me. Let's see... He was last seen on Tuntau in the..." Helena said checking her omni-tool before Shepard finished for her.

"Argos Rho Cluster. Thank you." With that he exited the compound, got into the mako and drove to an extraction point away from the base.

* * *

3 days later

The Normandy entered the Phoenix system of the Argos Rho Cluster and continued toward Tuntau to finish Wrex's business with Tonn Actus. Within minutes the Normady was already breaking the atmosphere, firing the mako out of it's hanger for the combat drop onto the planet. The mako instantly kept moving as soon as it hit the ground. Inside the mako, Shepard and his team were talking things over and what to do when they arrived.

"Remind me again. Why am I driving?" Tali asked. Shepard had practically put her into the driver's seat. Shepard sighed at the question.

"Because I didn't feel like driving and you could use some driving practice. Besides, how many quarians can say they actually drove a mako before?" Shepard stated.

"Umm none?" She responded with uncertainty.

"Exactly! Your the first quarian to do so. Also keep your eyes on the road!" Shepard said seeing them heading towards a boulder. Tali looked ahead and swerved right as she continued to drive south of the landing sight.

"Now then, here's the plan: Chances are the outpost is fortified. Possibly having snipers, guards and, while unlikely, turrents too. So when Wrex and I jump out, you all will take the mako and take out any turrents and snipers while we kill the ground troops. Simple and easy." Shepard said with everyone nodding. Later on Shepard felt the mako tip and immediately looked out towards the front window. He realized that Tali was driving down a crater and from the sounds of something hitting the roof, it appeared that they were within range of the outpost. After making it to the bottom, both Shepard and Wrex did combat rolls out of the mako. They both charged towards the base where 4 pirates were waiting for them. The 2 snipers that were stationed in the towers immediately set their sights on them.

Shepard noticed them and immediately took out his HMWSR Master, instantly aiming at one of them. With an accuracy that rivaled Garrus', Shepard fired at the farthest one. The round nailed the sniper through the scope perfectly. Shepard quickly aimed at the other one, seeing that the final sniper had taken the shot. Said round instantly caught him in the shoulder causing him to stumble, but he regained his footing without taking his eye off his target. The years of training with Zaeed came to him as the world slowed down. Seeing his chance he pulled the trigger. Scoring the sniper in the chest, the impact from the round caused the sniper to fall out of his tower.

'If the shot didn't kill him, that fall did.' Shepard thought as he kept moving toward the outpost, collapsing his sniper rifle. Wrex had gotten ahead of him in the time it took for him to take those snipers. Thankfully, the pirates guarding the door had focused on the mako instead of them. Shepard kept running until he was behind the fortifications used to guard the door. Upon entering he could see that Wrex had already begun attacking the pirates. One was obviously fighting for his life while the other 3 had just noticed the situatuion. Wrex was a head-butt away from defeating his opponent but the 3 other pirates were about to intervene until Shepard got a hold of them with a singularity. Wrex quickly killed his pirate before joining Shepard who finished things with warping the singularity, creating a biotic explosion which killed the 3 trapped pirates. Shepard watched as the mako had made a complete circle around the base before looking at Wrex with a smirk.

"So how many did you get?" He asked with a laugh in his voice. Wrex didn't answer as he just stared at the entrance to the outpost. Shepard could practically feel the eagerness rolling off of Wrex right now. Looking at the entrance, Shepard decided on what course of action would be taking.

"Wrex."

The krogan just continued staring.

"Wrex?"

*Stare*

"Wrex!" Shepard shouted as the mako stopped next to them.

"Uh? What?" Wrex finally responded annoyed at the shout.

"Good news: You're going to kill Tonn Actus while the rest of us kill whatever goons he has inside." Shepard said as everyone came out.

"So?" Wrex asked confused.

"So while we take care of the main force, you can take care Actus personally instead of one of us taking him out in the confusion." Shepard said. Wrex looked at Shepard before snorting.

"Hmph, fine by me." He said. With that all of them entered the base.

* * *

Upon entering Shepard immediately used his pulse to sense how many they were dealing with. As he mapped the area out, he could see that there were around 9 enemies in all, including Actus.

"There are 6 enemies on this floor whil Actus is on the balcony with 2 snipers guarding him. He obviously is thinking that he along with the snipers can pick us off while the 6 below distract us from them. Garrus and I will kill the snipers first while Kaidan, Liara and Tali fight with the 6. That's when you charge in past them and finish Actus, Wrex." Shepard said taking out his sniper again along with Garrus. Everyone nodded along with the plan as they took out their prefered weapon. As soon as they entered the next room Shepard and Garrus spotted and killed the 2 snipers instantly.

'That shouldn't have been possible! How could they have known where we were?!' Tonn Actus thought in shock as 2 of his subordinates were killed easily. Wrex spotted Actus and charged to the stairwell leading to the balcony, not before killing one of the pirates with his shotgun though. Garrus immediately switched to his assault rifle before being attacked by one of the pirates while Kaidan, Liara and Tali each attacked one of the pirates. Shepard didn't have enough time to switch when one of the the pirates came into a close range with omni-blades out.

'Shit! This guy knows how to use omni-blades in close combat.' Shepard thought as he backed away from the guy. The pirate immediately closed the distance and began slashing at Shepard with no reprieve. Shepard threw his sniper into the air and activated his omni-blades. Both blade users enaged in melee combat. Each one of them slashing and dodging the other. Shepard kicked the pirate in the gut with enough force to send him back a couple of feet. The pirate wasn't perturbed in the least as he immediately came back with avengeance, managing to slash Shepard's arm. He didn't let up even though Shepard managed to block the rest of his follow up.

'This guy's relentless! He's attacking me with much more ferocity than the others are with the rest of my team. What got into him?' Shepard thought as he kept blocking. He felt the adrenaline rush in his veins before he went on the offensive and started slashing and stabbing toward the pirate.

'Dammit! I need to get as much data as I can before he kills me. Captain Balak wasn't joking when he said that Ghost was something else. To think that he would last this long against me. I've been trained to infiltrate various pirate groups, assassinate the leaders and have them used as the hands of the Hegemony. Now it all ends here for me, but at the least, I can do this one final service to my people.' The pirate thought remembering that he had activated his live in-suit camera when he found out it was Ghost who was attacking the outpost. He suddenly used the enforcer gauntlet that most batarian forces use and hit Shepard square in the chest sending him back a couple of feet. Shepard spun around and caught his sniper by the barrel before it landed on the ground. The batarian spy came at Shepard trying to stab him with an outstretched omni-blade, but instead was met with the butt of Shepard's sniper rifle after swinging it like a bat. The batarian spat out blood from the blow. He looked toward Shepard who turned over his sniper rifle and aimed it at him. Without hesitation Shepard pulled the trigger and killed his opponent who fell down dead with a massive hole in his chest. Shepard looked at the corpse knowing that his team was finishing what was left of the pirate group.

'He was probably connected to slavers in some way. With the fact that my identity is all over the galaxy now, it was no wonder he attacked me so viciously.' Shepard thought as blood began to pool around the corpse. But there was something off about it. This batarian was using practiced moves usually reserved for black op soldiers. No normal pirate should have that kind of training. Sighing he looked over to his team who had finished up. He could feel that Wrex had finished Actus easily enough.

While Shepard was fighting the batarian...

Wrex reached the top of the stairs to find Actus looking down trying to get a clear shot on one of them down below. The battlemaster raised his shotgun at the pirate.

"Don't even think about it Actus." He snarled out. The turian froze at his name being called out from behind. He quickly turned around trying to fire at the enemy behind him only to be hit by a biotic throw. Wrex looked at the downed turian before raising his shotgun to his face.

"Clan Urdnot sends their regards." Wrex said before firing. Tonn Actus' head exploded in a small shower of blue gore. Wrex looked at the corpse before looking over to his squadmates to see if they need any help. Garrus and the others finished theirs decently enough, but when he saw Shepard he had to do a double take. A batarian pirate was actually keeping up with Shepard in a one on one fight. He took a closer look at the fight and noticed that Shepard wasn't using his biotics to aid him, or any of his tech abilities for that matter. He had to admit though, Shepard could really improvise when he used his sniper as a club on the pirate. Wrex then noticed that Shepard made his way upstairs. After a minute of waiting, Shepard made it to the top.

The spectre looked at Wrex before looking down at Tonn Actus' corpse. "I see you made short work of Actus. Do you know where the armor his?"

"No, not yet, but if this place follows the same layout like most of the other bases then it will most likely be in the back." Wrex responded. Shepard nodded and headed to the back where the office was located Wrex following after him. Both entered to see that there were several crates inside, but Shepard immediately focused on the wall safe right behind the desk. Quickly walking up to it, he hacked it with some small trouble. Apparently Actus was smart enough to get a wall safe with decent security. With a click the wall safe unlocked and opened, causing Shepard to look inside. He reached in and pulled on something heavy. With a grunt he dragged whatever was out into the light. Shepard looked over what appeared to be some very old armor, easily able to cover a krogan. It was old and scratched up with multiple marks, some faded more than others. Obviously this armor had seen some pretty gruesome battles, but it was very outdated in comparison to modern day armor. Shepard turned to Wrex who was looking through the crates inside the room.

"Wrex, I think I've found it." Shepard called out. Wrex turned and saw the armor in Shepard's grasp. He walked over and closely examined it. After a minute he nodded.

"Yes, this is it." He then snorted. "I can't believe my ancestors ever wore this piece of crap, but at least I've got it back." Shepard handed Wrex the armor. It was heavy for him since it was krogan armor after all.

"I'm glad we could get it back." He said. Wrex grinned in response.

"I just might be starting to like you Shepard." Wrex said before looking at his grandfather's armor. Shepard watched his friend's thoughtful expression for a moment. He honestly couldn't tell what was going on in Wrex's head. Krogan were hard to read from time to time. Wrex shook his head in bemusement before grabbing his gun with what appeared to be renewed purpose. Shepard walked toward the door with Wrex following. As soon as both got to the ground floor, Shepard spoke up.

"Great job everyone. We got what we came for, let's go back to the Normandy." Shepard said as he and everyone else moved to the door. It was time to go on.

Within the hour they were already back on the Normandy. Shepard quickly radioed Joker and told him to go to the Citadel to refuel and resupply. As everyone was placing their weapons at the weapon station where Ashley was, a loud noise suddenly echoed out around the cargo hold.

*GROWL*

"What the hell was that?" Ashley asked as she and everyone else looked around to find what had made the noise. The only who wasn't deterred from removing his armor was Shepard. Ashley noticed this and questioned him.

"Shepard you did hear that didn't you?" Ashley asked.

"Yep." Shepard responded as he continued to take off his armor. Everyone looked at him wondering why he was so nonchalant.

"And you're not the least bit interested of what made that sound?" Kaidan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I already know what it was." Shepard said without looking at everyone as he finished taking off the last piece of armor.

"Really? What was it?" Liara asked. Shepard didn't answer her immediately as he continued to face away from them. He sighed after a minute before saying, "That was my stomach. I'm hungry."

Everyone looked at him in mild shock before they started to chuckle at them. Shepard's cheeks grew red in embarassment as a result.

"Hehehehe I thought there was a wild animal on here for a moment." Garrus said with a smirk. Shepard just glared at everyone before walking toward the elevator, hoping to find something in mess to sate his hunger.

* * *

A couple of days later and the Normandy pulled into the Citadel dock as smoothly as she could. As soon as the docking tube connected, a blur shot out of it and into the elevator. One of the dock workers who saw this looked at his co-worker and asked, "What the hell was that?"

The co-worker just shook his head in a I-don't-know fashion before a human female soldier ran out of the ship yelling, "Shepard you can't leave the ship without a weapon and your armor!"

The blur that was identified as Shepard yelled out before the elevator door closed, "I've got my pistol. Besides there is nothing in the mess hall and I'm starving!" With that the elevator closed and descended down to the C-Sec Academy. The soldier looked at the elevator for a minute before sighing at her friend's antics. He could be a real child at times. Unknown to the dock workers, Ashley pouted thinking that maybe she could have joined Shepard for lunch. Just the 2 of them. She turned back to the Normandy and went inside not wanting to be yelled at by Chakwas for leaving the ship since she wasn't fully healed yet, but she was getting better. And also she didn't want to be in Shepard's or Joker's shoes when Chakwas got mad. They'd never let her hear the end of it.

* * *

An 2 hours later and Shepard was already in a fight with someone. This time however was different to say the least.

"YOU GO NOW!" Yelled the angry owner of the chinese restaurant Shepard had been eating at.

"Why?!" Shepard yelled back. He was just minding his own business, eating the buffet to fill the black hole that was his stomach. Sadly it wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. He was sure the chefs put something in the food considering he went from full to starving. Nothing in-between. He was literally about to walk out all full going, "Oh my god! I can't believe I ate all that chow-mein" to "Oh hey look! They brought eggrolls!"

Now here he was being yelled at by the angry chinese head chef.

"You been here 2 hour! Why you be here for 2 hour?! You scare my wife!" The chef yelled out, pointing to frightened greeting lady at the front. He wasn't kidding. Shepard could see the woman looking at him as if he was some kind of monster.

"Ok I'm sorry about that but it said all you can eat on the sign out front!" Shepard yelled back. The chef had a vein pop on his head.

"IT SAY ALL YOU CAN EAT BUT NOT FOREVER!" He yelled back. Shepard was about to say something back before someone beat him to it.

"Hahahaha! Mothafucka still causing trouble huh?" Said a very familiar voice. Both Shepard and the chef turned to the voice and said, "Chun?!/Jackie?!"

Both men looked back at each other then to Chun.

"How do you know him?!" They both asked the crimelord while pointing to each other.

"He is my best friend on Omega and he is my cousin." Chun said while pointing to Shepard and the chef respectively.

"Jackie what's with this guy? I give him enough MSG kill a elephant and he still going!" The chef said. Chun just started laughing at his cousin.

"Shepard don't go down easy cousin. Trust me I know." Chun said with grin. Shepard got up and prepared to leave.

"Chun are you here to see me or your cousin?" He asked seriously.

"Just my cousin. See you around Shepard."

"Likewise Chun." Shepard said before turning towards the chef.

"The food was very good. Thank you for the meal." With that he walked to the exit.

'Meal?! That more like mountain! He ate like Free Wirry!' The chef thought in shock before yelling, "YOU NO COME HERE ANYMORE!"

Shepard just waved saying he got the message before coming to the greeter's desk.

"How much do I need to pay?" He asked. The chef's wife hesistated before answering, "A-A hundred credits." Shepard payed the woman and got out fast. As soon as he got out, his omni-tool beeped. He looked at it and saw that it was a message from Anderson saying to meet him and Udina in the human embassy. He quickly made his way towards the presidium seeing as how he was in the wards. After a quick jog and cab ride he finally got to the embassy. Once inside he was met by Anderson and Udina.

"Shepard good to see you are well." Anderson said good naturedly.

"Same to you Anderson." Shepard said with a smile.

"We've gotten the Feros report. If we had known anything about the Thorian, Exo-Geni would never have gotten the permits to start a colony there. Thank God the colony survived. We can't afford to have too many failures out in the Traverse. It's one of our marjor expansion regions." Udina said thinking off the backlashes that could have come from the incident. Shepard looked at Udina with an annoyed glare. That was all he cared about?

"Be honest Udina. You don't really give a damn about the colonists. It's all just politics with you isn't it?" Shepard said in response. Udina returned the glare back to Shepard.

"We all can't be the hero who charges in to save the day, Ghost. But we each serve humanity in our own way." Udina said before he added on, "Some more so than others. Anderson will give you the details of your next mission."With that he walked out the room. Before exiting however he gave one last look to Shepard who just stared at him.

"You can't escape interstellar politics. It's part of the big picture and sometimes it isn't pretty." Udina said in more subdued tone before exiting.

"Just ignore him Shepard. The ambassador can be a little bitter sometimes. Comes with the job." Anderson said. Shepard looked at him before sighing for what seemed like the billionth time.

"I suppose I can understand. Being the Ghost of the Terminus wasn't just about fighting and muscling in. Sometimes I needed to be the guy who appeared to be more diplomatic." Shepard said. Anderson looked at him strangely.

"What was it like?" He asked. Shepard looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Being the slaver killer or Aria's spectre equivalent?" Shepard asked.

"Both." Shepard thought it for a moment before answering.

"When I hunted slavers, I felt like I was some vigilante mixed with a bit of detective. I had the skills, no one looking over me and the weaponry needed... most of the time. After Torfan I eventually became Aria's spectre of sorts. I went from vigilante to an agent. While working under Aria I ended learning more things than I used as a vigilante. Manners being part of it, Persuasion and Intimidation, even learning how to manage wide scale operations, including military." Anderson raised an eyebrow at how Shepard seemed to be remembering what he did during those years. That explained a few things like how Shepard seemed to have experiance in leading troops. Granted Elysium and Torfan had shown some small measure of it but it wasn't enough experiance for a lone wolf like Shepard had been.

"So you actually had to play politician and a soldier?" Anderson asked intrigued.

"I know my way around enough to understand that sometimes you can move people with a gun, but you can only move organizations with words." Shepard said with a smirk. Anderson chuckled at him for a minute before turning somewhat serious.

"Okay Shepard listen. We've gotten reports of geth sightings in the Pax System of the Horsehead Nebula." He informed. Shepard narrowed his eyes at the information.

"Are there any planets of any importance what so ever in that system?" He asked. Anderson nodded.

"The only planet fitting that criteria would be Noveria." Shepard looked at him strangely this time.

"Noveria? I've heard of that place before but I don't know what goes on there." Shepard said as he looked to be in thought.

"Noveria is a small, frozen terrestrial world, barely habitable by conventional definitions. It is privately chartered by the Noveria Development Corporation, who lease out labs to perform research too dangerous or controversial to be performed elsewhere. Given Noveria's unique situation, it is the source of many wild conspiracy theories." Anderson said having done a little research on it already.

"So there are several companies doing dangerous research on Noveria then?" Shepard asked as he thought of what could be going on over there.

"Yes. Elanus Risk Control Services, Binary Helix and... Synthetic Insights. To name a few." Anderson said as Shepard's interest got caught on the last 2. ERCS was nothing more than a private security corporation. The geth or Saren wouldn't have any possible interest in it unless they came up with something for guns. Now Binary Helix and Synthetic Insights would definitely catch both Saren and the Geth's attention. Saren might pay more attention to Binary Helix since they are the leading corporation in genetic engineering and biotechnology. Not only that, they do research in biotic implants as well. Saren was obviously in use of both biotech and biotics if their little fight on Eden Prime was any indication. As for the geth, Synthetic Insights was one of only four companies in the galaxy that were allowed to do AI research. He knew that there was a remote, but still plausible, possibility that the research could prove detrimental to the geth. He made it a priority to keep a distance from that company considering Isaac was with him most of the time. And if Isaac was ever discovered by them... he shuddered to think of what would happen to his best friend.

"I see. Thanks Anderson. We'll head there as soon as we leave the Citadel." Shepard said before leaving the room. As he walked out he heard something going on nearby. He quickly followed it to find a distressed elcor talking to another. After listening in on the converation, he found out that the elcor's privacy had been breached by the Consort of all people. Hearing this Shepard decided to investigate. Sadly he didn't know where it was and ended up walking around until he came to 2 people arguing.

"I don't care what you think Michael. It's my decision!" The woman said angrly. Wow this had to be important for both of them with venom he heard in her voice. The man gave a tired sigh before speaking again.

"I know you're hurting Rebekah, but don't let your grief hurt your baby too!" Michael said with urgency. Ok now he was starting to see what was going on. Not all of it but enough to warrant attention. Seeing another heated argument coming up Shepard decided to speak.

"Excuse me. Is there something going on here?" Shepard said neutrally. The couple turned to him not having noticed him until now.

"Perhaps you can talk some sense into her." Michael said crossing his arms. What? They didn't even know him! Was the argument so bad that it they'd actually welcome a third party's opinion?

"I don't need anyone to talk sense into me Michael. I'm not going undergoing the treatments." Rebekah said with finality.

"My sister-in-law is pregnant and she's refused to let the baby undergo gene therapy in utero." Michael explained exhasperated.

"Wait I thought that gene therapy was common?" Shepard asked confused. Things were getting clearer now but there was obviously more going on.

"My husband Jacob died from a rare heart condition several months ago." Rebekah said sadly.

"There's a chance that the baby could develop the same heart condition, but routine gene therapy can eliminate it." Michael continued with a little more fire in his voice now. Ok things were clear now.

"A very small chance Michael and extranet reports say the therapy can harm the child!" Rebekah countered. It was obvious she was thinking about her child but she was focusing on the negative side of things.

"It's less dangerous than the genetic enhancements that every soldier in the Alliance receives!" Michael shouted out. Jesus you're both in the middle of the presidium you know? People can hear it from the embassies probably.

"Hey man take it easy on her." Shepard said. Michael rounded on him now.

"I'm trying to make her see reason!" He said with his voice raised.

"And raising your voice at her could possibly stress her out enough that could actually harm the baby." Shepard reasoned out calmly. Michael's temper simmered down fast at that. He looked to Rebekah who appeared to be silently grateful. Shepard sighed knowing what he was going to say next would undoubtedly piss her off.

"For what it's worth, I believe you should consider undergoing gene therapy." Shepard said as he waited for it.

"What? I don't care what you think! Who are you anyway? It's my child, it's my decision!" Rebekah said heatedly. There it was.

"My name isn't that important. But I am a more gentically modified human. More than most." The couple were listening with rapted attention now. "My enhancements are on a very deep level and whats more, I got them while I was still in the womb. I know that it's scary, but you've already lost your husband. Are you willing to let your grief endanger your baby too?" Shepard said coldly. Rebekah's face contorted in anger and tears were coming out of her eyes as she responded back.

"I had to watch Jacob die! I can't risk the death of my child as well." She said with her voice cracking. It was finally starting to ware on her.

"Your husband's death wasn't your fault. But if you refuse the therapy, your child's death could very well be." Shepard said in a much softer tone. That was when the damn broke.

"Don't understand?! I can't lose this baby! This all I have left of him!" Rebekah cried out, sobbing. Shepard closed his eyes as he could feel the pain and grief rolling off her. It was heart wrenching for him.

"And you and that baby are all I have left of Jacob. I can't lose you, either of you. Not after this." Michael said with tears in his own eyes. He wasn't sobbing like Rebekah was but Shepard could tell it had been hard on both of them.

"Then why didn't you say that instead of yelling at me?" Rebekah asked with a more controlled tone now as her sobs lessened.

"Because I was scared. I'm sorry." Michael said in tired tone. There was silence for a moment as Shepard watched what would happen.

"If it means that much to you, if you trust that it's the right thing, I'll do the therapy." Rebekah said finally. She then looked at Shepard.

"Thank you so much. I guess we needed an outside person to talk some sense into both of us." Rebekah said with a smile.

"She's right, thank you." Michael added.

"No problem. Just take care of yourselves... all three of you." Shepard said as he parted ways with them. He continued walking on until he came to an area that seemed to smell with a lot of different perfumes. He followed into some kind of lounge where he was greeted by an asari in elegant clothing.

"Um hi?" He said not sure of where he was.

"Welcome. I am Nelyna. I don't recognize you as one of our expected clients today." Nelyna said as he walked toward her. He could see couches inside the area as well as various people talking with women dressed the same as Nelyna.

"Yeah I don't what this place is." Shepard said in confusion. Nelyna smiled at Shepard's lost expression.

"You are actually inside the Consort's Chambers." She said pleasently.

"Oh perfect! I was actually looking for this place actually." Shepard said with a smile.

"Would like me to see when the Consort would be able to meet with you?" Nelyna offered. Shepard looked confused again.

"I can't just go in?" He asked. Nelyna giggled before answering, "Mmmm I'm afraid not. You must understand that there are many who seek the consort's services. If you wish to leave your name, she'll make every effort to meet with you."

"Ah I see. Well Nelyna I'm afraid I'm not here for that kind of thing." Shepard said as leaned toward her a little.

"Oh then why are you here?" She asked as if she expected him to weasle is way in.

"Because I actually heard someone complaining about the services of this place." Shepard leaned in to whisper it. "About the consort herself in particular." IT was obvious Nelyna hadn't been expecting that one. Shepard leaned back and said, "But obviously since she's to busy I will leave but before that could ask about any other services you have here?"

Nelyna looked at him wondering why he had given up so easily on meeting with the consort while everyone else had tried using a great many number of ways including threats. His final question finally clicked in her mind before answering him.

"Um we offer conversation, singing and touch." She said. Shepard raised a brow at touch.

"Touch?" He asked.

"Yes that is actually my speciality. My finger tips can find every tension point in your body to relieve your stress." She explained.

"Hmmm. You know I could actually use some of that. Is it possible to open an appointment for that one for me?" He asked. Nelyna entered his name on her console and said, "We should have an opening for you in the next few months. Shepard's eyes widened at that.

"A few months. Jeez I'm afraid we'll have to cancel that then. I won't be in Citadel Space around that time." Shepard said. Nelyna looked at him in confusion before saying, "Oh I see. Sorry about that then."

"Yeah. Well I should go. Goodbye." Shepard said as he turned around and walked out the door. As he neared it he vaguely heard Nelyna ask, "Yes Sha'ira?" before walking out.

'Well that was disappointing. Oh well better head to the Normandy.' He thought as he walked to a nearby rapid transit console. Before he could call a cab however he was stopped by, "Umm excuse me sir?"

He turned to see it was Nelyna. "Oh hey. Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Nelyna nodded and asked, "Are you Ghost by any chance?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed at the question slightly.

"Yes?" Nelyna then grabbed his arm and started to pull him back to the chambers.

"It would appear that the consort has taken notice of you and wishes to speak with you in her chambers." She said as they both entered the chambers again.

"What? Why?" He asked confused. Nelyna just shook her head no.

"I'm afraid I don't know. Maybe because of your reputation perhaps." She replied as they passed the greeter's desk. She then let go of him and pointed to the stairs on the other side of the room.

"Just head upstairs, she'll be waiting for you." With that she left him alone. Not knowing what to do, Shepard walked toward the stairs ignore the jealous glares he was getting from the other patrons. He could have sworn he heard someone go, "Lucky bastard. What makes him so special?"

He quickly made it to the stairs and walked up them. He quickly came to a hallway leading to a single door. Before he walked to it Isaac began talking again.

"What the hell did you do to get that woman to notice you?" He asked.

"I don't have a damn clue. Maybe she knows someone who knows me?" Shepard said as he approached the door.

"Why do I doubt that?" Isaac asked rhetorically.

"Yea same here." Shepard said before the door opened. He cautiously walked inside as he looked over the place for any enemy or camera or anything else that could possibly harm him. The room was porcelain white with some furniture and a bed with a purple glass cover on it. Strange. In the middle of the room was one lone asari who was waiting for him. He approached her before she said, "That's close enough Ghost." Shepard stopped and looked her over as she turned around to face him.

Beautiful like most asari he'd seen and ample just like most in their matron stage, but what got his attention was how she held herself. It was elegant just like how the Asari Councilor Tevos but it was also intuitive like Aria only not as... predatory.

"I've heard a great many things about you since your first visit to our Citadel." She said as she walked up to him.

"Well what do you want from me? You obviously know a little about me so it isn't a coincindence that would call me here when I walked in." Shepard said as he watched her. He had a feeling that this was connected to the reason he came here in the first place. Sha'ira smiled at him in response.

"To the point I see. Aria chose well. I have a certain problem that could use your expertise." She said as she looked at him.

"Then maybe I can help." Shepard replied. Sha'ira continued to smile before telling him what she wanted.

"I have a... friend, Septimus. A retired turian general. I won't discuss the details but he wanted me to be more than I could be. We had a falling out, now he spends his days at Chora's Den. Drinking and spreading lies about me." She explained.

"Ouch." Shepard said making Sha'ira pause for minute. He actually thought that she would giggle for a second before she raised her hand and stroke his cheek with her fingers. The softness caused Shepard to close his eyes at the feeling remembering the times with Liselle, almost forgetting where he was. Almost.

"If you could speak to him as a fellow soldier, I believe he would listen to you let the matter be." Shepard gently grabbed her and led it away from his face before leting go. His opened before answering her.

"Fine. What exactly do you want me to say?" He asked.

"Appeal to his sense of honor. Remind him of his position as a general." Sha'ira smiled again before putting her face right beside his. "If you can convince him to stop spreading lies about me, I would be very grateful." She said in suggestive tone before pulling away. He could smell the perfume on her. A lilac scent, not to strong, not to weak. She knows her stuff. He honestly couldn't tell if she was manipulating him or not, but right now he knew what needed to be done. He turned and made his way to Chora's Den. Sha'ira looked after him wondering how his aura was so chaotic yet so calm at the same time.

A few minutes later.

Shepard was back in the wards and heading to Chora's Den. Before he got there thought 2 batarian thugs stood in his way.

"Well look who we have here. The Ghost of the Terminus lightly armed and unarmored. Must be our lucky day." One of them said. Shepard looked at them for a moment before they pulled out there weapons on him. He didn't even blink as he used overload on them then following up with a singularity.

"That shouldn't have happened! Not that fast anyway!" The other shouted in outrage. Shepard then used warp which caused a biotic explosion, instantly killing them. Shepard just kept walking until he heard some click from behind. He turned around to see that a third batarian thug had hidden himself with a tactical cloak and now how had their rifle trained on him.

"Today is the day you die." The batarian said. Before Shepard could do anything Chun fell from the rafters above them and landed silently behind the batarian. He kicked the assault rifle out of the batarian's hands and knocked down onto the ground before taking out his personal twin pistols and shot the thug to death.

"These mothafuckas get dumber and dumber every time." Chun said as he put his pistols away.

"Yea they do. Nice one Chun." Shepard said before Chun walked toward him.

"No problem Shepard. It was funny at how fast you took those 2 fools out. But I decided on wanting to kill one of them too so that's why I jumped in to save your ass." Chun said as both he and Shepard walked to Chora's Den.

"Very funny Chun. I totally had that just for the record." Shepard said.

"Oh sure, sure. No one get the jump on the Ghost after all." Chun said, nodding tauntedly.

"So why you going to Chora's Den?" Chun asked.

"Gotta give a pep talk to a retired turian general. You?" Shepard said as they both came to the door.

"Bitches and Booze. Besides it's my club now." Chun said as they walked in. Alarm bells were ringing the second Chun said it was his club and from the look of it, the dancers had changed to strippers. This time it wasn't just asari but humans, turians and he was pretty sure he saw a drell in the mix a second ago.

"Well Shepard I got to go do some red sand in my office. Have a good time." Chun said before walking back to where Fist's old office was. Shepard just shook his head at the madness that was Jackie Chun before spotting Septimus. It was easy considering the old turian was drinking like a fish and actually not staring at any of the woman. Shepard walked up to the man and sat in the seat next to him. The turian took a couple seconds to process who he was before speaking.

"Ghost. What do you want?"

"What's bothering you general?" Shepard asked as he crossed his arms.

"I've seen a lot of horrible things in my day and there is only one woman in this damn galaxy that helps me forget it." Septimus said looking down at his glass of brandy. Shepard could understand that position all to well. In a sense Liselle was Shepard's Sha'ira of sorts.

"I can understand that part. More than you know, but why spread lies about this woman?" Shepard asked as a waitress gave him a bottel of turian brandy. He looked up her inquisitvely and she answered, "Courtesy of the boss handsome. Said it should help smooth things over." With that the waitress left to go to the bar. Shepard then noticed Chun leaning out the door with a thumbs up. Shepard nodded, signaling he got the message. Chun then disappeared back behind the door.

"Because she rejected me. Me! Septimus Oraka! General of the Turian Fleet." The old man said with fire. Shepard smirked at him. Good to see he still had some fire left in those old bones. He silently offered to pour the old general a drink. Septimus nodded causing Shepard to pour the brandy into the glass.

"I can see where you're coming from. But spreading lies about her won't make things better." Shepard said as he finished pouring. Oraka downed the glass in one gulp.

"Look kid, I know appreciate your trying to do but don't waste your time." Oraka said. Shepard thought about what he should say next as Oraka took the bottle from him. He then remembered what Sha'ira told him.

_'Appeal to his sense of honor. Remind him of his position as a general.' _Shepard smirked upon remebering.

"General, did you ever win a battle by moping at a bar?" Shepard asked making Oraka stop drinking. The turian looked at him before saying, "Ha! War. That's what this feels like alright. How did I let it come to this? So you think it's that easy? Just straighten up and act like general?"

"It would be a step up then sitting here drinking about it." Shepard said. Oraka thought things over before standing up. Shepard followed suit.

"Huh, maybe you're right Ghost. Sha'ira's worth the effort even if she won't have me back." Oraka said with a little more soberness.

"This place doesn't fit someone of your stature general." Shepard said.

"Alright, I'll go to her." Oraka said before pausing and adding, "After I had a cold shower... or two." Both men chuckled. Oraka looked at Shepard and remebered something he had done earlier that was very bad for Sha'ira.

"Say your a bright kid. Would you be interested in earning a few extra credits?" Oraka asked. Shepard instantly felt like he was kid that was being asked by an old man to make a delivery.

"Sure. What do you need me to do?" He asked.

"There is an elcor diplomat out there who believes Sha'ira gave up his secrets." Oraka said.

"Let me guess you told him that." Shepard said.

"Yes. Look I just need you to convince him of the truth." Oraka said.

"How do I get him to believe me?" Shepard asked.

"You'll bring him proof." Oraka then gave Shepard a datapad.

"Take this. It shows where I got my info. It will exonerate Sha'ira and convince the elcor." Oraka explained. Shepard nodded.

"Okay. I got a good idea of where this elcor is too. Take care... General Oraka." Shepard said as he walked out to find a cab.

A few minutes later.

Shepard walked to where he had seen the elcor and found that the diplomat had not moved. Shepard approached the elcor who noticed him.

"Hello there human. Sincere apology: but I am here on business and cannot be distracted right now." The elcor said. Shepard wasn't fazed by the strange speach pattern at all having shopped at Harrot's Emporium before.

"That's actually what I've come to talk to you about. Your... little problem." Shepard said which got the elcor's attention.

"Curious: What do you know about the consort and her relationship to me?"

"I know who revealed your secret. It was a turian named Septimus." Shepard said not wanting to get the old turian in too much trouble.

"Unbelieving: I know this Septimus and he could not learn my secrets. The only way he could learn them was from the asari consort." The elcor said. Shepard shook his head no.

"Not true. Take a look at this." Shepard said as he showed the datapad to the elcor.

"Confused: This is difficult to fathom. If the turian could learn this on his own... Dismayed: Anyone could discover my secret." Elcor said with his head down.

"Don't worry." The elcor looked up at him. "Septimus is a powerful man and it wasn't easy for him to find."

"Relieved: I suppose you are correct human. Thank you for this information. Startled Realization: I must speak with the consort. She will be most displeased with my actions. Anxious Request: Please human, if you will excuse me I must go now."

"I'm sure she'll forgive you. It was an honest mistake." Shepard said comfortingly.

"Doubtful: Perhaps you are right human. I could only hope so." The elcor said as he lumbered away. Shepard was about to exit the room when another voice said, "Thankful: That was a great thing you did Ghost. Approving: You see Din? Not all humans are as you say." Shepard nodded to both of them as he left the room. Walking away he heard the volus go, "I'm sure the earth-clan stands to profit from this in some way"

Shepard quickly made it back to the chambers where Nelyna greeted him.

"Hello Ghost. She's waiting for you upstairs."

"Thanks Nelyna." Shepard said as he walked past the disgruntled patrons. They were all more envious of him now. Seeing the Consort twice in one day was absurd! He ignored them all and just kept walking until he got to Sha'ira's door. He kncoked first before he heard the 'come in'

As soon as he entered the room he was met with a smiling Sha'ira.

"Ghost I recently received a lovely note from Septimus. Thank you for speaking with him. Even the elcor diplomat has withdrawn his campaign against me." Sha'ira said.

"It was no trouble." Shepard replied back with a smile.

"You're too kind Ghost, but I would not expect you to help me out of the kindness of your heart. I also have one more thing to give you, if you're interested." Sha'ira said before she looked at him seriously.

"Go ahead." Shepard stood waiting for what she would say to him. She smiled at him.

"I offer a gift of words: An affirmation of who you are and what you will become." She then took a close look at him and outstretched her hand. as if trying to feel for something.

"I see you. Your stance fits as though you were born with it. You are a fighter through and through. Proud, solitary... alone. I see your skin, tough as the scales of any turian. Unyielding. A wall between you and everyone else. And... I can see the sadness behind you eyes. It tells a story that makes me weep. Pain and loss, but it drives you. All of these give you strength. It is that strength that people are drawn to. It is why you lead and others follow without question. That strength is what what kept you alive when everyone around you was dying. You alone survived and will continue to survive. You never hide your strength, either. It serves you well. Terrifies your foes. Few will dare to stand against you. You will need that leadership, that strength, in the battles to come. This may be who you are, but it is not who you will become. It only forms the basis for your future greatness. Remember these words when doubt decends, Ghost." Sha'ira told a wide-eyed Shepard.

Everything she had just said had been dead on the mark. From his training with Zaeed, going planet to planet, ship to ship, fighting in all kinds of terrains. From living alone on Omega with only Isaac around. From... Mindoir, when he lost everything. Then she hit Elysium, Akuze and Torfan in that order. He quickly regained himself and made a smile.

"You have quite a gift, Sha'ira." Shepard said respectively. The Consort smiled at him.

"Thank you. Not everyone appreciates it as you do." She said.

"Well, when you hit right on the mark, I can't help but appreciate it." Shepard said. The Consort giggled at him this time.

"Never underestimate the power of words." She said.

"I rarely do." Shepard replied. Sha'ira took the necklace she had been wearing off and handed it to him.

"Here Ghost. In light of your efforts with the elcor diplomat, I'd like you to have this small trinket." Shepard studied and found that while the chain was ordinary, what it held was not. It appeared to be a small metallice square, sleek and polished with some type of green light emnating from the sigil inscribed on it.

"What is it?" Shepard said as he continued to look at it. It appeared oddly familiar to him for some reason.

"A small mystery. I have never learned of its use or purpose but I sense that it is time for me to pass it on. And now I must ask you to leave. I've done everything I can for you." Sha'ira said.

"Well goodbye Sha'ira." Shepard said as he pocketed the necklace and exited. He quickly radioed Joker and told him of where they were going to next, Noveria. Also to order a new set of female Colossus heavy armor and have the cargo in the private dock brought onto the ship. Couldn't leave his favorite mech here could he?

* * *

**Whew. 11,287 words. That's awesome. I can't believe that Naruto is actually going to end in 5 weeks. Seems just like yesterday Shippuden started. I'm sad about that. Oh well.**

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	27. Noveria: Cold Corporations (part 1)

Recap: "Well goodbye Sha'ira." Shepard said as he pocketed the necklace and exited. He quickly radioed Joker and told him of where they were going to next, Noveria. Also to order a new set of female Colossus heavy armor and have the cargo in the private dock brought onto the ship. Couldn't leave his favorite mech here could he?

Now

The Normandy was flying towards the frozen planet of Noveria. After a long amount of time, Shepard had finally caught a break where he could continue his hunt for Saren. Sadly, Noveria had one thing that made Shepard more cautious then usual because of the corporations stationed on the planet. From what he knew about Noveria it was all straight business and from what he had heard, the government on Noveria only respected Spectre authority. Chances were they going to go against Shepard and the team probably. His suspicions were starting to be confirmed when the transmition opened between Noveria's port Hanshan and Joker.

"Approach control. This is SSV Normandy. Requesting vector and a berth." Joker stated into the mic as the Normandy approached.

"Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defense grid is armed and tracking you. State your business." was the response. Shepard became annoyed at the tone of the person's voice and from what he could see, Joker was too.

"Citadel business. We've got a Council Spectre aboard." Joker responded in an even tone. Shepard watched as the Normandy approached the snow covered port at a moderate pace.

"Landing access granted, Normandy." Joker grinned at the change of tone. Shepard smirked at it since it sounded like the guy had been put down. Joker looked at him and fist-bumped him as the Normandy docked.

"Nice work." Shepard said.

"I always do." Joker responded. That was when the voice came back.

"Be advised, you will need to confirm idetification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded." With that final warning, the comm cut out. Joker snorted at it.

"What a fun bunch. I'll think I'll take my next leave here." Shepard scoffed before turning to go to his room to change for the departure. He didn't trust things would go smoothly, not with that frigid welcome.

* * *

Everyone got out of the Normandy, including Ashley who was in her new set of Colossus heavy armor. She was very happy that she could now go back on missions with everyone. It was maddening being cooped up in the ship for that long to her. Especially when everyone else got to go out.

"How's the armor Ash?" Shepard asked as they walked toward the entrance.

"It's fine. I managed to readjust both mine and Liara's armor sets before landing here so we should have no problem." Ashley said.

"Excellent." Shepard replied with a smirk.

"Thank you for readjusting my armor Ashley." Liara said with an appreciative expression.

"No problem Liara." Ashley said nodding a your welcome. The whole group eventually came to entrance and were welcomed by a greeting party consisting of Elanus Risk Control security guards. Shepard could already see how this might go down. Already coming to the conclusion that the Noveria Development Corporation most likely won't respect the Ghost, they might respect Spectre Shepard. He looked toward the welcoming party. One turian and 2 human women. On top of that, there were 2 other human guards with 2 automated turrent drones above them. Challenging. The 2 females caught his eye the most though. The one who looked to be leader of the group seemed to be the kind of person who had a good sense of justice and responsibility by her confident stance. The other one looked like a total bitch. She seemed to be a hard ass who would most likely take part in backroom dealings if the glare she was sending him and his squad was any indication. He stepped forward to speak only to be cut-off by the leader.

"That's far enough." She said. Shepard and everyone stopped.

"We're not here to cause problems." Shepard said as he watched her reaction. To her credit she kept a decent poker face.

"This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials." Shepard smirked.

"You first." He said. The other woman's expression turned into a near growl.

"We're the law here. Show some respect." Shepard just stared at her before brushing her off and looking at the leader expectantly. The woman sighed before talking.

"I'm Captain Maeko Matsuo. Elanus Risk Control Services." She said in a respective tone. Shepard smiled.

"A pleasure to meet you Captain. I am John Shepard, the first human Spectre." Shepard said calmly. The bitch's expression turned skeptical.

"Load of hourse crap ma'am. Everyone knows there is no human spectre." She said looking at her captain before glaring at Shepard. Shepard ignored the glare and just settled on watching Matsuo's reaction. He could tell while she did take her underling's opinions, she wouldn't let them cloud her judgement.

"We... will need to confirm that." Matsuo said making Shepard smile at her while Ashley looked at the bitch with a victorious expression.

"Fine by me. Where do I go?" Shepard asked. The Captain just pointed to a scanning station further in. Shepard made to walk over before the Captain said, "Also I must advise you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons." Stirling smirked and walked over to the squad but before she could get any closer, a biotic field lifted her up and placed her back where she was standing earlier. The squad took out there weapons and aimed them at the guards while the Captain and Stirling aimed their weapons at him.

"What the hell was that for?!" Stirling demanded form Shepard who had been the one to place her back. When he didn't answer she almost had her shotgun right at Shepard's face. Shepard however didn't look concerned in the least.

"It would not be wise to search for the geth unarmed." Liara responded as a biotic field manifested around her. She and Ashley both had their sights on Stirling too since she was threatening Shepard. Shepard silently took note of who was using what. Ashley and Garrus both had their assault rifles out. Kaidan was using his pistol while Wrex and Tali both had their shotguns out. He knew they all could fight their way through here easily, but he knew the resulting fight would not be pretty and whatsmore, it would leave everyone fatigued which could affect their fight with the geth. Shepard sighed knowing they weren't going to like what he had to say.

"Stand down. Their house, their rules." Shepard said making everyone look at him strangely. Wrex looked very anoyed at the fact he was going to have to give up his weapon, but he trusted Shepard's judgement just like everyone else who lowered their weapons.

"I'll be behind you. That armor's in good condition right?" Tali said slowly. Shepard grinned at her question.

"Last I checked, yea." Shepard said. Captain Matsuo as well as the other guards lowered their own weapons. All except for Stirling that is.

"You going to put your weapon away or at least out of my face?" Shepard asked in a annoyed tone.

"No." She said in an arrogant tone.

"It would be smart if you do." Shepard said in a slightly colder tone. Matsuo was about to say something when she noticed that none of the team were actually concerned.

"Oh and why is that?" Stirling asked. Shepard then did something that actually scared everyone. He put on a face splitting grin and somehow managed to speak in his cold tone at the same time, "Because if you don't, I'll use my biotics to break both your arms and legs in one move."

"Y-Y-You j-just t-t-threatened a-a c-cop! Y-Your u-under arrest!" Stirling tried say with authority, but it was obvious that Shepard's little act had frightened her badly. Before anything else could happen, a voice went over the dock's intercom.

"Captain Matsuo, Sergeant Stirling stand down! We've confirmed their identity. Spectre's are authorized to carry weapons here Captain." Everyon heard it and immediately relaxed. Stirling got away from Shepard and not too slowly either. It didn't stop her from glaring at him though. Shepard brushed it off knowing she wasn't a real threat. Granted he could sense her biotics were... mildly impressive for a cop but that was it.

"You may proceed spectre. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational." Matsuo said. Shepard smirked at her remark.

"That's wishful thinking, Captain. But thank you all the same." Shepard said.

"Parisini-san will meet you up the stairs at the desk." Matsuo said before going back to her station. Stirling gave one last glare at Shepard before leaving as well. Shepard turned to see his team looking at him with nervous looks.

"What?" He asked.

"You know, I sometimes forget how sary you can be." Kaidan said with everyone else agreeing. Shepard just shrugged at them before going inside. With everyone following him, Shepard walked to the desk where some scanners came around him and the team. One second later, alarms were blaring. Everyone was looking like they were getting ready for a fight until a woman where a pink dress walked out.

"Weapon detectors. Don't mind the alarms." The woman explained Suddenly the alarms went out.

"There we go. I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. My apologies for the incident for the docking bay." Parasini said. Shepard looked at the woman for a second and felt that something was off about the woman. His instincts were telling him that this woman was more than what she claimed to be. He played it off for later though.

"Hey it's fine. I appreciate the help." Shepard replied with a smile.

"You're welcome. You understand that our security chief was only doing her job. One of my duties is orientation with new arrivals. Do you have any questions?" Parasini asked.

"You have some pretty heavy security for such a small port." Shepard said as his eyes roamed around the area.

"The executive board does everything in it's power to protect the privacy of our client corporations." Parasini said in a business like tone. Shepard heard the answer, noticing it sounded rehearsed. He narrowed his eyes at the woman for moment before stopping.

"Listen I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I can't have my investigation hampered." Shepard as easily as he could. Parasini eyes grew a touch colder for a split second before losing it.

"Understandable, but tread lightly. The board can bury you in litigation. You'd need an asari lawyer to see the case through." She warned. Shepard nodded before asking, "Just out of curiousity, has anyone unusual passed through here recently?"

"Unusual? An asari matriarch passed through a few days ago." That had Shepard's alarm bells going off and from what he could see of Liara from the corner of his eye, she seemed to think the same thing too. But it probably wasn't-

"Lady Benezia." Damn.

"Benezia? She is here?" She asked silently with a stoic expression. Shepard could see through her stoic persona that it did bother her, a lot.

"Could I perhaps speak with her?" He asked politely. Parasini shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. Lady Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex days ago. To the best of my knowledge, she's still there." Shepard mentally cursed. Things were never simple.

"I see then could you tell me how to get there?" He asked.

"You'd need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port." Parisini informed him. Great.

"Where can I find the administrator?" He asked.

"His office is on the main level, left at the top of the elevator." She said.

"Understood. Can we go in now?" Shepard asked as he pointed his thumb to where the elevator was.

"Of course. If you need any help, you can ask me at te administrator's office. Parasini then left towards the elevator.

"She's here. I can't believe it." Liara said after Parasini was gone. Everyone looked at her now, knowing what was going on. Liara looked at him with sad eyes.

"I imagine you want to talk to me Shepard. About my mother." Liara said as she looked down in sadness. Does she still think they don't trust her?

"Liara..." Liara closed her eyes waiting for the questions and distrustful looks to happen. "after all the crap we've been through together since you joined up, I've learned to trust you with my life. So no... I don't. I still trust you as well as everyone here does I'm sure. You may not be a fighter, but you're part of my crew." Shepard said with a small smile. Liara looked up to see everyone else had their own reassuring smiles on with nods of agreement.

"Thank you Shepard. That means a great deal to me." She said blushing a bit. Shepard nodded before walking towards the elevator with everyone following. They then made their first mistake: getting into the elevator all together. If it were in a group of 3 it wouldn't be so bad, but since they were 7 people it became very cramped.

"Can anyone hit the button?" Shepard said as he tried to wiggle around to see who was near it.

"Wait hold up I got it." Garrus said as he struggled to move his talon to the button. He managed to press it causing the elevator to lurch upward.

*Groans*

"Who was that?" Wrex asked.

"M-Me." Shepard said in a strained voice.

"What happened?" Kaidan asked.

"When the elevator lurched, someone kneed me in the crotch." Shepard said as he struggled to get his hand to the offending appendage since it seemed to not leave.

"*Winces* Oh man that's gotta hurt." Kaidan said in sympathy.

"It does." Shepard said when his hand grabbed the leg that was connected to the offending knee.

"Yah!" Shepard realized who he grabbed and quickly let go, but not before pushing the leg away.

"Whew. Sorry Ash, but it was uncomfortable." Shepard said. When Shepard had grabbed her leg, he realized that it had gone a little too far up since he actually grabbed her thigh. In the back of his mind, his primal side was thinking about how soft it felt in his hand.

"I-It's fine Shepard. Sorry I accidently kneed you." She said with a burning blush. 'I didn't think he was that big.' She thought before she brutally beat the thought down.

"It's fine. We'll need to be careful with these elevators though." Shepard said as the elevator finished it's ascent. Everyone got out without tumbling by some miracle. Afterwards Shepard and Ashley didn't look at one another in the eye, feeling awkward about it. They silently walked toward where Anoleis' office was. While walking over there he heard someone talking about Peak 15, saying it lost contact. They sped up to where Anoleis was and were met by Parasini.

"How can I help you?" She asked.

"I'd like to speak to Anoleis." Shepard said.

"One moment please. Mr. Anoleis?" Parasini said as she hit the comm on her desk.

"Yes, what what?" An irritated salarian voice said rapidly. Shepard could have sworn he saw Parasini's eye twitch for a minute, but brushed off as a trick of the light.

"Spectre Shepard is asking to see you sir." She said in a professional tone. Shepard raised an eyebrow at her while smirking in amusment.

"Right fine. Come in." The voice said knowing he was there. Shepard just gave her a look a sympathy before walking in the office. His team stayed behind since there were so many of them. As Shepard walked in he saw a grey skinned salarian who looked at him as if he wasn't worth his time.

"You will excuse me if I don't stand up. I have no time to entertain colonial rubes." Anoleis said. That earned a cold look from Shepard.

"I see you looked me up." Shepard replied neutrally as he crossed his arms.

"Only a fool enters negotiation without knowledge of the other party's tendencies." Shepard gave a look of agreement before Anoleis continued, "This greeting is a curteosy. I will only cooperate as required by the executive board. Businesses come here to avoid the second-guessing of galactic law."

Shepard now understood why Gianna Parasini seemed to twitch her eye back then.

"Are you telling me you have no safety precautions?" Shepard asked in an even voice. Anoleis looked irritated by the question.

"Don't be ridiculous. Do you think a for-profit company would take no precautions against loss of life and material? Project leads have the final say around here. Not meddlesome politicians." Anoleis said as if he was talking to a child.

"I've heard an asari matriarch is here. Benezia?" Shepard asked.

"She arrived a few days ago, accompanied by a personal escort and some cargo. she is up at Peak 15." Anoleis said.

"What do you mean by 'personal escort'?" Shepard asked wondering what could pass for a security detail for someone who works with geth.

"The phrase is self-explanatory. Bodyguards attending to the safety of her person. Mainly asari commandoes." Anoleis said with a snarky tone.

"Commandoes? Strange that you wouldn't mind their presence." Shepard said with one of his eyebrow's raised up

"They followed all our regulations. I had no reason to forbid Lady Benezia from taking them." Anoleis replied irritated. Shepard then remembered her cargo.

"What can you tell me about her cargo?" He asked.

"Large, heavy, and sealed. It passed weapon screening. Beyond that it is not our concern." Large and heavy as well as sealed? That could be troublesome.

"What brought her out here?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be at liberty to say. She came here as Agent Saren's executor." Anoleis said with a sweep of his hand as if it was common knowledge. Wait a minute.

"His what?"

"Executor. She is here for Binary Helix. There were issues at Peak 15 that required Saren's attention." Peak 15 eh?

"I'll need to see her immediately."

"I'm afraid you cannot. Peak 15 is a private facility in the Skadi mountains. Regardless, there is a blizzard in the area. Shuttles are grounded, and surface access has been cut off." Anoleis said in a weird tone.

"Surface access you say?" Shepard asked with a smirk. Anoleis frowned.

"Cut off, I said. The roads are not suitable for travel. Don't make an issue of this Shepard." Anoleis finished. Shepard was curious about Peak 15 with its recent troubles.

"Is there some problem at Peak 15?" He asked.

"Like I said an area of severe weather has cut off contact. Things will return to normal in a few days." Anoleis assured. He doesn't have a few days dammit! Then he thought about Saren. Anoleis mentioned that Benezia was here acting as Saren's executor.

"Do you do business with Saren?" Shepard asked with an accusing glare.

"I believe I explained this already did I not? He is a major investor in Binary Helix corporation, which is one of Noveria's backers." Anoleis said in frustration.

"Is Binary Helix developing weapons for him?" Shepard asked.

"It's possible, given his interests. What clients do in their labs is their business. I would think you would know that Spectre or are you just as stupid as every other member of your species?" Anoleis said as he chuckled at the end. Shepard uncrossed his arms and put his hands on the desk as he leaned over it. Anoleis looked confused and annoyed at the human in front of him. How could someone like this ever become a Spectre? This nobody?

"What are you-" Anoleis began to question before a biotic aura manifested itself on Shepard.

"Shut that cloaca you call a mouth!" Shepard hissed causing Anoleis to gulp and shut up.

"I'm sick of hearing you insult me at every sentence. And don't think I won't smack you around just cause of those turrents you got here. I'll use your body to block the gunfire before destroying them. Do you know who I really am?" Anoleis just shook his head know, to scared to speak.

"I'm not just the first human Spectre. I'm the Ghost of the Terminus to." Anoleis actually went pale. "And believe me, I've learned a lot of ways to kill people. On the battle field and in heavily fortified office too. No matter the profit lost, no matter the papaerwork or the lawsuits, insult me again and I'll break both your legs. Am I clear?" Shepard said in cold voice. Anoleis just nodded. Shepard got up and walked out of the room. As soon as he walked out, his team greeted him.

"So when do we go?" Wrex asked.

"When we can somehow gain clearance to the garage." Shepard replied trying to figure things out.

"So we need to figure a way catch a ride?" Ashley asked. Shepard nodded. Everyone tried to think of a way but came up blank.

"I got nothing." Shepard said he and his team were about to walk out when they heard, "Mr. Anoleis isn't the only one who has a pass to leave Hanshan."

Everyone stopped and looked to who said it and found it to be none other than Gianna Parasini.

"Excuse me?" Shepard asked. Parasini smiled.

"You've never worked in the corporate world, have you Shepard? You can't bludgeon through bureaucracy." She said.

"All right, what would you do?" He asked. Parasini looked around before leaning in. Shepard leaned in too to hear what she had to say.

"Talk to Lorik Qui'in. You should be able to find him at the hotel bar." She looked around again before going, "Can't say anymore. Not within earshot of Mr. Anoleis." Shepard nodded and walked to the bar with his team following.

"What was that about?" Tali asked.

"It would appear that we have someone who can help us. I'll look into this, you guys go have some fun." Shepard said as he walked to the bar with everyone going in different directions. Shepard made it to the bar with no problems. He immediately noticed Lorik Qui'in and walked over. The turian saw Shepard approach him.

"Afternoon. Sit down, have a drink. What can I do for you?" Lorik asked. Shepard took a seat across from the turian before asking, "Are you Lorik Qui'in? I've heard you may be able to help me."

"You are the Spectre that just arrived, are you not? What could an old turian like me possibly help you with?" Lorik asked. Shepard knew the turian was playing around with him.

"I'm trying to find a way to the garage. I've got places to go." Shepard explained.

"You need a pass. How fortuitous. I'm the manager of the local Synthetic Insights Office, for the moment at least. Mr. Anoleis closed my office. He claims to be investigating reports of my corruption. The administrator is an interesting man. He has become quite wealthy since he took control of rents." Lorik said. Shepard instantly connected the dots.

"By rents you rent you mean bribes Anoleis receives." Shepard said.

"Indeed. I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired goons are ransacking my office to find it. I suspect your goal lies outside this port. Mr. Anoleis would be disinclined to let you wander. If you recover the evidence from my office, I will give you my garage pass, as well as a sum of credits." Lorik said. Shepard nodded and accepted the trade.

* * *

An hour later

Shepard was slipping Lorik Qui'in's OSD into the computer in the Synthetic Insights Office. He had run into some small trouble with Anoleis' goons who had been bribed cops. Shepard had actually managed to persuade some of them to leave, but more didn't, thinking they could take them. There was no blood spilt from the fight. Only bullet holes and broken necks. It was sad at how weak they were compared to him. He didn't use biotics, tech or his guns for that matter, only adrenaline.

"You know that Stirling chick is right outside don't you?" Isaac asked.

"I noticed it the second she was coming up the stairs." Shepard said smirking.

"Hmph. You know, I actually looked through some of the data in here and actually found something that could help me." Isaac said having gone through the database.

"Oh what?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Increased hacking for one thing. Now I can hack into people's omni-tools during a fight." Isaac said.

"That'll be fun to test." Shepard said as the OSD finished downloading. Shepard walked out of the office to see 3 cops including Stirling.

"Looks like I'll get my chance." Isaac said before going quiet.

"Yep." Shepard said softly before approaching the group.

"I don't think your suppose to be in hear Shepard." Stirling said with a glare. Shepard looked at her eyes. He could see she had no real respect for authority. She was too self-rightous about herself and her position. He had heard some of the guards call her their secret weapon because of her biotics.

"No I'm not. Are you?" Shepard asked.

"I'm Sergeant Kaira Stirling, Elanus Risk Control Services. Anoleis would throw you off-world for what you did here, I won't. Do you know what we did to cop killers on my world?" She asked. Shepard began to chuckle at her causing her and the 2 other guards to look confused until it broke into a full blown laughing. Shepard suddenly stopped laughing at them before his face twisted into a snarl.

"You're here off-duty, breaking the law for bribe money. You expect me to feel bad for stopping? Sorry but I don't. And another thing, if you think you're a real cop, I got knews for you. A real cop doesn't take bribes. You're nothing more than a hired thug. You want a fight? I'll give you a slaughter." Shepard coldly spoke as his biotics glowed.

"You talk the talk. Let's see if you can walk after I break your legs." She said as she to glowed with biotics. Isaac immediately used his new ability and caused the other 2 ERC security guards' omni-tools to self-destruct. They were instantly killed by it. Shepard grabbed Stirling with a lift and focused on her arms and legs. Stirling knew what he was upto and before she could shout or use her biotics...

*CRACK x4*

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" She screamed out as her arms went limp. There weren't misshappened at all until you saw that they were moving with the biotic energy like rope. Yes Shepard went further than what he promised. Instead of just breaking her arms and legs, he fractured them severly.

"Hah, hah, hah. YOU BASTARD!" Stirling screamed. Shepard looked at her stoically before saying, "You shouldn't have taken that bribe." Then he used his biotics to grab her head and he twisted, breaking her neck. Shepard gently let her body down. One final thing he could do out of remorse. Shepard had found a dark way to use his biotics. A way to break the bodies of his enemies without even touching them. In some ways it was worse than using any of the other biotic abilities. By simply using the theory behind lift, pull and throw and making it more compact, he was able to break bones quite easily without even being near someone. He quickly left, not wanting to be found. As soon as he got to next floor however he was met by Gianna Parasini of all people.

"Shepard. There've been reports of noise from the Synthetic Insights office. Would you know anything about it?" She asked with faux innocence. Shepard could see it.

"Speak plain, what's your interest?" He asked.

"Not here Spectre. If you want to talk, meet me at the hotel for a drink before you talk to Qui'in. I'll be waiting." Parasini said before leaving. Shepard waited a few minutes to leave to make sure no one saw them in the same place before making his way to the hotel and bar. He walked until he was back at the bar. The music boomed around as he looked for Parasini. It didn't long at all. He just needed to find the pink dress she wore and bam! He found her. He approached her and sat at the table she was sitting at.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs." She said once he had sat down. Shepard smirked at her.

"I'm not surprised really." He said causing her to look at him seriously.

"What tipped you off?" She asked. While her performance wasn't exactly perfect, it was able to fool mostly everyone.

"It was the small things. In my line of work, you need to be a good judge of character. The second we met my instincts were telling me that you weren't what you claimed to be and then there was that time at the office. When Anoleis dismissed you like that, I noticed your eye twitch. That led me to believe in 2 outcomes: 1) You were recently knew or 2) You were used to being in a respectful position of sorts. Then finally you tipped me off about someone who just happened to have damning evidence about your boss which led me to getting a clearer picture. This in turn made think of who you exactly were. I came to 2 more conclusions: 1) You were a spy for Anoleis. Crazy as it may be. And 2) You were a spy for someone else." Shepard explained. Parasini was somewhat shocked at his perception skills. Very impressive to figure all of that in only a few hours.

"That's impressive." She said with a hint of respect.

"I may not have worked in the corporate world, but I do know how cynical things get." Shepard replied before turning serious.

"So what do you want?" He asked. Parasini's expression became more business like.

"The Board has known about Anoleis' corruption for some time now. I've been undercover for six months. What I want is for you to convince Qui'in to testify before the Board. With his evidence, this planet can run profitably again." Parasini explained.

"I thought corruption was the rule on Noveria?" Shepard asked curiously.

"The rule is 'don't rock the boat.' Self-interest is tolerated if it doesn't interfere with business. Anoleis is driving customers away." Parasini said in annoyance.

"Why don't you ask Qui'in directly?" Parasini gave him a are-you-stupid look before answering, "I'm Anoleis' secretary. You think he'd believe me? That he'd meet me in some dark alley with his evidence?"

"Okay, okay calm down. You work for Anoleis. Can't you just take his records?" Shepard asked. The are-you-stupid look didn't go away.

"He's a crook, not a moron. He doesn't keep a logs on his computer saying 'This month I stole 3 million credits.' Qui'in's testimony and records are everything I need to prove Anoleis' guilt in one package." Parasini explained. Shepard nodded at the logic and could tell this woman was an expert in this field.

"I need a garage pass to help complete my mission." Shepard explained. He left out Qui'in specifically thinking she might catch on to what he was asking.

"You help my investigation and I'll provide whatever you need. Favor for a favor." Parasini said. Shepard closed his eyes as he thought it over. In the long run, it is better to remove Anoleis. He could become a big problem if he ever came back to Noveria. Parasini decided to add something else.

"Look, Shepard. I don;t like this either. You Spectres play fast and loose with the law. That's bad for business." Parasini said. Shepard looked at her.

"Before I do anything, I need some information." He said. Parasini nodded after thinking it over.

"Do you know why the Matriarch is here?"

"Something to do with Peak 15. She arrived after we received their Code Omega: automated warning of a containment breach. She came with an escort of asari commandoes. They took the last shuttle up to Peak 15 with a load of crates." Parasini informed. Shepard's eyes narrowed at that. Those crates again.

"Do you know what she had in the crates?" He asked. Something didn't feel right.

"No idea. The commandoes wouldn't let anyone near them. They seemed heavy, though." Parasini said after thinking about it.

"Do you know what was happening on Peak 15?" He asked wondering about the location itself.

"Before the weather closed in, Hanshan received the Code Omega like I said. Code Omega actually means a terminal breach of safety protocols. No one goes up until the crew sends an all-clear." Parasini said.

"And if there is no all-clear?" He asked in trepidation.

"The Executive Board votes on whether or not to destroy the facility. One antimatter warhead from the battlestations vaporizes all contaminants." Parasini explained. That could be bad.

"That doesn't really tell me a lot." He grumbled out.

"That's all I've got. No one knows what's really going on up there." Parasini replied even though Shepard wasn't talking to her then.

"How can I get to Peak 15?" He asked wondering if there were any possible ways.

"The shuttles are down, so you'd have to drive up. If you get Qui'in to testify, I'll get you into the garage." Parasini said. Shepard sighed.

"All right I'll talk to Qui'in and see if I can convince him." Shepard said tiredly. Parasini smiled at him.

"Thank you. You know where I work. Come talk to me once you know if he'll play." Parasini said before leaving. Shepard got up and walked to where Qui'in was.

"Always a pleasure, Spectre. Any news on that matter I asked you to look into?" Qui'in aksed once Shepard sat down.

"I finished the job, but an Internal Affairs Investigator contacted me. She wants you to testify against Anoleis." Shepard said. Qui'in's face turned into a turian scowl.

"Now that you have my property, you want to dictate how I use it? I have no interest in a public spectacle." Qui'in said as he took another sip from his drink.

"Everyone in this station is obviously chaffing under Anoleis' extortion. You testify, you may end up becoming a hero." Shepard said. Qui'in sighed.

"My employers rely on the goodwill of the Executive Board to work here." Qui'in said. Shepard smirked.

"Ah but get this. The Board was already investigating into Anoleis. They're more concerned about the guy who is driving customers away." Shepard said. Qui'in froze before going, "All right! it is obvious that I cannot persuade you. Very well. I will testify, make whatever arrangements you need to make with your contact. I'll wait here."

"You made the right choice. I promise you." Shepard said as he got up and left. He quickly took the elevator down and went straight to Parasini. Once in front of her, she began talking.

"Spectre. Have you given any more consideration to my offer?" Se asked expectantly.

"It took some persuasion, but Qui'in has agrred to testify." Shepard responded with a grin. Parasini released a held breath and smiled back.

"That's a world of stress off my back. I'll take the evidence for safe transport." Shepard handed her the OSD. "You know, I didn;t think you'd help me. Being a Spectre and all. I guess some of you can be all right."

"And here I thought you'd be happier." Shepard said still grinning. Parasini laughed at his joke.

"I'm ecstatic, but right now I just feel like a long day at work is ending. While you were working on Qui'in, I got you a garage pass. Be careful out there. Now if you don't mind, I have an arrest to make. Wish I had time to change into something easy to move in. I hate skirts." Parasini walked around the corner and Shepard listened for the moment. There was not even the old 'you're under arrest for..'

"This is an outrage! I'll see that you never work in this sector again!" Anoleis said.

"Yeah, yeah. Get a move on." Parasini said. That was when they both came from around the corner and saw that Shepard was there with a smirk on his face. Anoleis seeing him, and not realizing it was him found everything out, ordered him.

"You! Shepard, I demand that you place this bitch under arrest!" Anoleis ordered. Parasini butted in.

"You have the right to remain silent. I wish to God you'd exercise it. See you around the galaxy Spectre. I owe you a beer." PArasini said as she led Anoleis out. Noticing the cameras, Shepard didn't tell Isaac anything. He sent a message to the team to meet at the garage. He found a way out.

* * *

A few minutes later

Everyone was back at the door to the garage. As Shepard walked toward it one of the ERCS Guards stopped him.

"Access to the garage is restricted." She said. Shepard showed her the pass.

"I have authorization. Excuse me." He said as she scanned it. Her omni-tool beeped in recognition. She nodded in affirmation.

"Yes, that's genuine. Drive safely, the weather is supposed to be very bad out in the Valley." She said as the door opened.

"Of course. Thank you." Shepard said before walking into the garage along with everyone else. Upon entering however Shepard felt 6 electricity signatures.

"6 geth!" Shepard yelled as he got out his assault rifle. Everyone got out their preferred weapon. What they came up against were two Geth Destroyers, a Geth Ghost, a Geth Stalker, a Geth Rocket Trooper, and a Geth Shock Trooper. Shepard and Wrex immediately took on the Destroyers while Ashley and Garrus took on the Rocket and Shock Trooper. Tali attacked the Geth Ghost while Kaidan and Liara double-teamed the geth stalker.

Shepard immediately used a power strike on the destroyer. Its shields held up for a few seconds until the power strike tore through and completely destroyed its main body. The explosion sent the body flying back like a rag doll.

Wrex used carnage on his destroyer before using lift on it. As it floated helplessly in the air, Wrex fired multiple rounds into it until it stopped working.

Ashley was able to overwhelm the rocket trooper easily with a mix of adrenaline and overkill. The rocket trooper's shields fell quickly to the onslaught.

Garrus immediately broke through the Shock Trooper's shields with a combination of overload and overkill. He finished it off by shooting its head.

Tali hacked the Geth Ghost and caused it to self-destruct. It was very simple for her.

Kaidan and Liara just demolished the Geth Stalker by trapping it in a stasis field, following up with a warp and shooting it dead with their pistols.

After the geth were dead, Captain Maeko Matsuo came running in. She immediately stopped once she saw the geth bodies.

"Well that explains what was in those crates." Shepard said. Hearing this Matsuo turned to him.

"Crates?" Shepard looked at her not having noticed her.

"Yea, when Benezia came through here, she brought a lot of crates. They must have been filled with geth. Damn and she brought a lot of crates too." Shepard said. Matsuo looked at him wondering how he was so calm. She then looked at everyone else and noticed that they too were calm. That was when a hidden geth stalker activated itself and jumped at the Captain. Before it could reach her, it was covered in a biotic aura and stopped in mid-air. Everyone looked and noticed Shepard had caught it. Liara paid extra attention considering Shepard wasn't even moving his arms around or nothing.

'He's mastered his biotics to this level?! Only experianced asari who train for decades achieve this! How can he, a human who is just turning in his third decade, be able to pull this type of mastery!?' She thought in awe. Wrex was also on same line of thought. Then everyone was shocked at how the geth was immediately crushed by the biotic field. Shepard then tossed the hunk of metal aside before looking at Matsuo.

"Captain Matsuo, are you all right?" He asked. She just nodded in shock as she stared at him.

'What is he?!' She thought frantically. Shepard let it go and walked towards M35 Mako they had in the garage. Before entering he looked at his team.

"You guys coming or what?" He asked before getting. His team quickly scrambled in as he started the engine. Shepard quickly popped his head out and looked toward Matsuo.

"Hey can you open the door please? We're heading to Peak 15." He asked before the mako's door closed. Matsuo quickly went towards the garage door opener and hit the button. The mako quickly flew out of the garage door and straight for Peak 15.

* * *

**Okay so this came early. Awesome! Only 4 more weeks till the Naruto manga ends. Sword art online 2 is looking good and we got some good story development. Sorry if I made Shepard a little more darker than usual. If not then okay.**

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	28. Noveria: Rachni Revelation (Conclusion)

Recap: "Hey can you open the door please? We're heading to Peak 15." He asked before the mako's door closed. Matsuo quickly went towards the garage door opener and hit the button. The mako quickly flew out of the garage door and straight for Peak 15.

Now

Shepard and the team drove through the mountains with as much care as they could. Sadly, that was made difficult because of the geth Benezia had left behind on the road towards Peak 15. This didn't just include a few shock troopers, but also rocket troopers, turrents, armatures and even a colossus! How the helld did she managed to smuggle a colossus through Hanshan? They'd have to be blind or something. Well it did slow them down but they eventually got to their destination bypassing a few destroyed grizzlies along the way. No doubt destroyed by the geth while lost in the blizzard. After a few more fights, they finally arrived at Peak 15. Noticing that there was a crashed grizzly in the garage door's way, everyone got out and ran to the side door. Upon entry they moved inward to the garage.

Once inside however they ended up fighting a Geth Juggernaut, a Geth Destroyer, a Geth Shock Trooper, and a Geth Repair Drone. There were also three krogan with them. Shepard immediately homed in on the repair drone and crushed with his biotics. Geth repair drones made fighting the geth much more annoying at the least. At most it prolonged the fight. He quickly moved and assaulted the geth juggernaut with a warp and overload combo, finishing it with an overkill courtesy of his assault rifle. Ashley and Kaidan both attacked the destroyer. Kaidan used stasis and overload while Ashley finished it off with a onslaught from her assault rifle. Tali used carnage on the shock trooper after hacking and turning it on one of the krogan, killing both of them. Liara attacked the second krogan with a relentless biotic assault. She continuously used her biotic blast melee before finishing him off with a rather heavy warp. She took her pistol out and shot him in the head for good measure. Wrex immediately went after the final krogan and head-butted him. The krogan was knocked back a bit giving Wrex enough time to use carnage on the whelp. Right in the face to. After the fight came to an end, they all heard the station's VI.

"User alert! All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage. Biohazard materials present throughout facility. Virtual Intelligence user offline." The VI said over the intercom.

"We'll have to get main power back." Kaidan said

"And to do that we'll have to get the reactors back online." Tali said after hearing it. Everyone continued on to the door that would lead them further into the facility. They came into a corridor-like checkpoint which held turrents that were facing inside.

"What moron installed these turrents facing backwards?" Wrex said seeing them.

"They want to keep their people in as much they want to keep others out." Garrus replied. Everyone went down the elevator further down the hall. Unlike the ones at Port Hanshan, these were built to hold bigger things so it easily held them all. The elevator went up. The display above the elevator door read 'Cafeteria' once it stopped. Shepard, Ashley and Garrus all had there assault rifles out as they exited the elevator with caution. Shepard immediately took in his surroundings and noticed that the cafeteria had been ruined. He then felt 4 electric signatures. Everyone quickly ran out and immediately fired on 4 geth troopers. The geth while they had been expecting them, were taken by surprise at hwo fast they had been seen. Once the fight was over Shepard felt something different. Not like a biotic, electric or even the thorian spores, but something else. He quickly looked around, trying to pinpoint where it was, but he couldn't. It was like an all over feeling. You knew it was in the room but you can't tell where. Then they all heard noises like something was moving in the vents around them. Those noises were followed by shrieks of some kind. Everyone got back to back, searching for whatever was making the noise.

"What was that?" Garrus said as he looked around quickly for any sign of what made the noise with his assault rifle ready.

"Don't have a panick attack. I'll protect you." Wrex teased as he too looked around.

"Animals? Wind? This place is in bad shape." Ashley said finally noticing the full extent of her surroundings. Her joke fell on deaf ears sadly. Liara and Shepard were both silent as their eyes went over everywhere on their level.

"What the hell are those?!" Kaidan yelled seeing what made the sounds. Everyone looked to where he was looking at and saw it. A giant bug of some sort. 4 antennae, 4 legs and had some sort of tentacle appendages. Another one came up besides all suddenly heard scurrying and saw more than a few smaller green insects scitttering towards them. When she saw them, Tali freaked out and began shooting.

"Spiders, spiders, spiders, SPIIIDEERRRSS!" She yelled as she fired at them, completely terrified. Everyone saw them too, and immediately opened fire. The little insects scurried around making it difficult, but they were shot eventually. Except which on Shepard and exploded.

"Awwww dammit! What the hell?!" Shepard yelled as he tried to get the goop off him. He suddenly felt like he was going to be sick again and noticed some type of clicking sound behind him. He quickly turned around to see the 2 bigger ones coming at them. He quickly switched to his shotgun and immediately fired. Everyone else soon joined in, using either a pistol, shotgun, or assault rifle. After an assault that puntured through their carapaces with great difficulty, they finally killed them. Before the last one died however, it spat some type of acid which hit Kaidan. Shepard couldn't take it anymore and walked to a corner and started hacking up. Kaidan followed his lead and distanced himself from everyone before he too started blowing chunks of his lunch.

"Goddess are you two alright?" Liara asked. Both men didn't answer at first. They just groaned until the felt better. Shepard recovered faster than Kaidan did, but both had to use medi-gel to completely recover.

"Whatever you do, make sure that the small ones don't *gag* get too close. They explode with some type of acid." Shepard said as he walked back to the group.

"Yea and *gag* don't get hit by any of that spit the big ones use either." Kaidan said as he joined up. Everyone looked at the corpses of the giant bugs.

"What were those things?" Garrus asked as he looked at them.

"Damned if I know. But someone on his mountain does." Wrex said glaring at the carcas.

"I've never seen anything like them." Tali said shuddering at the small ones.

"Xenobiology is not my field. Maybe someone in the labs knows." Liara commented trying to figure out what they were.

"They were hard to kill. That's all I need to know." Ashley said panting a little. Everyone just kept walking until they came to another elevator which brought them to the VI core room. They were attacked by another swarm of those small ones but everyone managed to kill them all since they were funneled through the corridor.

"This must be the VI's core room. Spread out and check for anything that might get things working again." Shepard said as he walked over to the main console. It was an assortment of high-grade terminals all lined up in a curve formation. He quickly looked at the dials and noticed a button that led to the core. He pushed it but nothing happened. He looked for anything else that might help but found none.

"Shepard!" Ashley yelled out.

"What?" Shepard yelled back, gripping his pistol in case another of those things came around.

"We found something." She yelled.

"What is it?" He shouted back as he didn't move from the VI console since there was no threat.

"A backup power system, Shepard. Must be for the station mainframe." Garrus shouted this time. He then listened to the converation some of his teammates had.

"Think we can fix it? Get this place back online?" He heard Kaidan ask.

"The damage is not extensive. It could be repaired." He heard Liara say.

"So whack it and turn this thing on." He heard Wrex state and couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. Then the VI's voice came over the intercom.

"Critical startup error. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline. Manual reboot required." The VI spoke. Shepard noticed that the button he tried to push lit up. He pressed it and floor panel he stood on descended down into what appeared to be the VI's core mainframe.

"Hey guys I think I found something!" He shouted up. The distance between here and level he was on had to have been seperated by at least 15-20 feet of space. He waited until he saw Tali's head come into the view.

"Shepard? What are you doing?" She asked. Everyone else leaned over and saw him down there.

"I'm going to try and reboot this thing hang on." Shepard said as he started typing on the keyboard inside. It showed that the mainframe needed all the power to be completely connected to all of its systems and not just the basics. It took him a while but he finally managed to divert power to all of the VI's systems. In response to this the VI directed the elevator panel to ascend back up. Once there a VI hologram of a woman appeared in front of the console.

"It looks like you're trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?" She asked.

"Help would be great. Who are you?" Shepard responded hoping things would go smoothly.

"This system is monitored to respond to the name 'Mira.' May I ask your name?" The now known Mira asked.

"Shepard. I work for the Citadel Spectres." Shepard replied thinking it my give him access to certain systems.

"One moment please. Council authority confirmed. You are entitled to secure access of all systems. Please note that queries relating to corporate secrets require privileged access. Privileged access is only available to Binary Helix executives. This system is ready to process queries. You may access me at any holographic interface within Peak 15." Mira informed. Uhhh He can't go five minutes without someone telling him about corporate disclosure. He quickly remembered why he was here in the first place.

"I need to find Matriarch Benezia." Shepard said seriously.

"Lady Benezia departed on the passenger tramway to the Rift Station's subsidiary labs. User alert! The tramway system is currently inoperable." Mira replied. Great of course there would be more problems. Oh well. Time to figure things out and fix them.

"What's the situation here?" He asked.

"One moment please. Diagnostics in progress. Critical failure. Main reactor shutdown in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart required. Critical failure. Landline connections are disabled. Passenger tram systems are offline. Report complete. Do you have an additional systems status query?" Mira said after a few seconds of silence.

"Do you know why the reactor was shutdown?" Shepard asked first. That seemed more important.

"I'm sorry but I was offline at the time. Shutdown could occur if reactor was breach seems likely, or in the case of catastrophic laboratory containment failure. Emergency guidlines suggest the frigid environment will kill biological contagions. It may also damage mechanical ones." Mira informed. That made sense.

"Turn off the heat and hope the cold puts whatever you unleashed to sleep." Wrex commented.

"Nice." Tali agreed. Kaidan nodded along with her. It was sound enough.

"What do we need to do to get the power back on?" Shepard asked a little annoyed at the walkthrough.

"The valves to the helium-3 fuel line must be opened. This can be done at the controls on the reactor assembly proper." Mira informed. Okay now they were getting somewhere. Shepard then wondered about the landlines.

"What are the landlines and why are they disabled?" He asked.

"The landlines connect my mainframes here at Central Station to the various subfacilities of Peak 15. This allows the crew to remotely access my databases from the comfort of and security of their labs. When emergency protocols were implemented within the hot labs, the cabling was automatically ejected." Mira informed. Okay so they really needed both if they were going to proceed.

"How do we reconect the landlines?" Shepard asked with a sigh.

"The landlines are designed for easy reconnection. The router for the landlines is on the roof of Operations. Simply activate the controls, and the hardware will reconnect and reboot automatically." Mira said. Oh thank God! That made things so much simpler. He then remembered that this place was only recently down. A few days at least and yet it looked like it was starting to fall apart.

"Tell me what happened here." Shepard ordered. Time to get to the bottom of this.

"I'm sorry, but I need a more specific query." Mira said. Shepard's eye twitched. He already went through this shit with Isaac when he was still new. He didn't need to go through it again.

"Tell me what occured immediately before your shutdown." Shepard specified.

"Stage 1 alert issued at hot labs. Contaminants released from Laboratory Pod Gamma. Emergency protocols implemented. Stage 2 alert issued at hot labs. Isolation Tube breached. Tram shut down. Landlines to hot labs disconnected. Stage 3 alert issued locally. Contaminants in tram tunnels. Station wide shutdown and evacuation intiated. Code Omega sent." Mira said as if she was an alarm intercom. What the hell kind of contaminants... the bugs!

"What sort of 'contaminants' escaped?" Shepard asked morbidly. All he got was a disclosure thing about how she couldn't reveal company secrets.

"The creatures we've encountered here. Did they come from the labs?" Shepard asked. He got the same response. Okay it was safe to assume that it was indeed the bugs that fucked this place up.

"Why were you taken offline?" Shepard asked exasperated.

"In the event Peak 15 must be sterilized for security purposes, my program and data are purged." Mira said making Shepard freeze.

"They kill you if something goes wrong?" Shepard asked evenly.

"My systems are permanently disabled. To be 'killed,' I would need to be alive. I am merely a database program." Mira replied. His sudden anger went away. Oh right VI, not AI.

"That's all I need to know right now." Shepard said. He then turned to his team.

"Okay. Since the landlines are easy to deal with one of us will just go and deal with that. The rest will go to the reactor. Now before I here any quesions I'll say it like this: The reactor room is most likely bigger than the roof which has less room considering we're on a mountain. Also you never know what surprises may be in store in either area. So I'll go to the roof while you guys activate the reactor. I'll go up there in case there are any geth or these bugs around up there. You all will take the reactor since it could contain more enemies than the roof. If either us finishes before the other, check this place first and if there isn't anyone here go to where the missing one is. Let's do this." Shepard said before going into the elevator. It brought him up to the roof quite fast.

The only downside was that there were bugs on the roof. He quickly took out his shotgun and began firing, killing a big one quickly. Seeing he was getting flanked, he used singularity and caught most of the little ones and a big one. He quickly used an incinerate attack which killed them before turning his attention to the remaining big one. He used carnage to kill it, completely destroying it in the process. He walked over to the console and activated the landlines.

"Connections restored. Processing new data. User alert! Unable to connect to hot lab facilities." Mira's avatar popped up and spoke.

"Give me a status report on the hot labs." Shepard asked.

"I am sorry. The network connections to the labs have been damaged. Data is limited." Mira informed.

"Give me an overview of the facility" Shepard said.

"The hot labs isolate dangerous biological or cybernetic contaminants during development. The complex is built within a glacier. In the event of an accident, it can be irradiated and sunk into the ice." Mira replied. Damn he was starting to think maybe he and Isaac should try getting one of these labs in the future. Who knows what could happen with them.

"You really have no idea what's going on inside?" Shepard asked hoping for a little more.

"I'm afraid not. My last log entry is shortly after the Stage 2 containment alert was sounded." Mira responded, apologetic.

"What's the status of Rift Station?" Shepard asked.

"Rift Station has been locked down by the staff. There are no contaminants within the facility." Mira informed. Okay... wait what?!

"Why is Rift Station locked down?" Shepard he asked thinking it may be a fluke about the staff.

"Emergency procedures require each facility to isolate itself to prevent the spread of contagion. It would also appear that there are several employees quarantined for medical treatment." Mira replied. So it was true. There were some survivors. Maybe they could get some answers.

"If it's locked down will we be able to enter?" Shepard asked. If any survivors are there they might be trapped in there. How could they survive.

"The passenger trams can bring you to the facility. Further access will be at the discretion of the security forces there." Mira replied. Oh that's how. Makes sense.

"The staff really is alive then?" Shepard asked with a smile.

"Yes, though the number of personnel is below the official staff count." Mira replied. Shepard's smile went away. It was to be expected after all.

With everyone else.

They had gone into the the reactor area and immediately came under fire by geth. Shepard was right to send all of them here together. The geth were numerous but they were outclassed. The group split up and started taking out the geth one by one. Eventually, the 3 destroyers, 2 stalkers, and the Juggernaut were destroyed by the team. Kaidan walked over to the where the reactor console was.

"The He-3 fuel line is cut." Kaidan said on closer inspection. Tali and Garrus came over and assited Kaidan in repairing it. After a minute, Tali went, "There we got it." They turned it on and it came to life.

"Alright, we should head back and see if Shepard needs some help." Wrex said before walking away. Everyone else followed.

Back with Shepard.

"What this about loose contaminents?" Shepard asked Mira in the core room.

"Dangerous biological agents are present in the decontamination chamber. The tram station has been sealed in the interest of crew safety. Activation of the failsafe plasma jets is recommended prior to access." Mira explained. Failsafe?

"How do I activate the failsafe?" Shepard asked.

"Controls for the failsafe system are located in the security checkpoint outside decontamination. User alert! The failsafe system is currently inoperable." Mira informed. 'Like that first one we found on our way.' He thought.

"What would it take to fix it?" Shepard asked.

"There is a hardware fault in the control system. This can be repaired on-site using a standard omni-tool." Mira explained. That was when he heard vent movement and got that feeling again. He already had to deal with one of them already after coming back down. He took out his shotgun and prepared to go and attack it until he heard a door open with gunfire following shortly after. Shepard knew his team was back. He quickly found it and saw them all with their guns pointed at the bug's corpse, riddled with holes.

"Hey guys! I was just about to come get you. We can move onto the contaminantion checkpoint." Shepard said walking into a side corridor with everyone following. They came to another elevator which took them to the checkpoint. Once entering into the security office they saw 2 big bugs inside the checkpoint.

"They're locked in." Wrex observed.

"I could bypass the door. It looks like the trams to the subsidiary stations are beyond it." Tali said looking at the door.

"Yea a good hot-wiring could help if we can't use the plasma purge." Ashley said seeing what Tali was thinking.

"That door COULD be finessed." Garrus said looking at the door then the bugs. They all soon noticed the dead salarian scientist near the computer console. Out of curiosity, Kaidan played the recording on it.

"... control grou-... loose in the... they're... can't escape... up the tunnels now. We're sorry. The leads couldn't get to... -struct.. out while you can..." Just before the recording cut out, a shot was fired followed by a thump.

"He killed himself because he was part of what happened here?" Kaidan said in confused shock.

"Damn shame. God only gives you one life." Ashley said with some emotion.

"Among my people, a suicide's body would left for scavengers. The nathak will get to him eventually." Wrex commented staring at the corpse.

"He must have felt there was no hope of surviving. That killing himself would be easier." Liara said. Shepard activated the purge without saying anything. Everyone turned once they heard the sound of flames and shrieks of pain. They quietly left the room and continued on down the hall until they finally came to the tram line. They entered it and rode all the way to Rift Station knowing one way or another, that their fight here was coming to an end.

* * *

After a half hour of riding the tram. They finally arrived at Rift Station. Once they got off, they saw bodies of scientist. With holes punched in theirs bodies like they were stabbed. They quickly walked around and found only one working elevator. Riding it down, each of them had their weapon drawn. Being in an elevator while the enemy was about was the last thing you wanted. When the elevator opened they found the survivors. The guards standing behind a barricade.

"Stand down." The one in charge ordered his men. Shepard and crew approached them as they too lowered their weapons.

"Sorry. We couldn't be sure what was on the tram." The Captain apologized.

"I'd do the same. What's going one here?" Shepard replied.

"Bugs, lots of killer bugs. Look. You're human, and that's enough that I won't shoot. But I'd like to know who you are." The Captain requested.

"My name is Shepard. I'm a Spectre." Shepard said.

"Hm. Well I won't look a heavily armed horse in the mouth. The alines overan the hot labs last week. Only Han Olar got out and he ain't all there anymore. The first we knew, the bastards were clawing into my command post. We had a lot more staff then." The Captain informed.

"You were taken by surprise and you had people to protect. You did a good job Captain." Shepard said in consolation.

"Yeah? Sure as hell doesn't feel like it. The board sent an asari to clean up the mess. She went to the hot labs yesterday. We haven't heard from her since." The Captain said in a dead tone.

"I'm not going to let any of your people die." Shepard replied with confidence in his voice.

"All I can do is hold out here to protect the civilians. There is a emergency elevator out by the trams. This card will let you activate it. It'll take you down to the hot labs. Oh, if you need any first aid, Dr. Cohen is downstairs in the med bay." The Captain said in exhaustion as he handed the card to him.

"Are you certain that the Matriarch is still in the labs?" Shepard asked. Something felt off.

"She hasn't come back here. You came through Central Station, so she ain't there." The captain replied.

"What can you tell me about the aliens?" Shepard asked. These people had been fighting them longer than he had.

"Ask Dr. Olar. He's the only one who made it out of the hot labs. Only volus left here." The Captain said. He filed that note away for later.

"I need to know more about the situation in the hot labs." Shepard said.

"The facility's off the network. The only way to find out would be to send scouts down the elevator. I won't send my people to their death." The captain responded resolutely.

"Alright tell me about the structure of the hot labs then." Shepard said seeing as he wasn't going to get anymore there.

"It's built into one of the glaciers further down the mountain. Real old, thick, stable. Something goes wrong, they heat it up and sink it into the ice. Normally, the crew gets to the labs using an tram from Central Station. We've got an elevator that connects directly, but it's for emegency use only." The captain said.

"Did the aliens come from the labs or outside?" Shepard asked.

"You want my personal opinion? Labs like that exist to do stupid crap that gets people killed." The captain said in anger. Shepard nodded at that.

"Tell me about Rift Station." Shepard asked. Better to know the environment.

"I can't talk about everything. What do you need to know?" The captain said evasively.

"First tell me about the defenses here." Shepard said thinking he could use them to his advantage, or at least stay away from them.

"Secure enough that you shouldn't poke in corners." The captain said vaguely.

"I was just impressed. Being able to weather a week of assualts is no mean feat." Shepard said smoothly. The captain smirked in pride.

"Only the best get assigned to the high security facilities. What impresses me most is the turrents, alarms, and cameras. They are all routed through a central location up by the quarantine labs. One guy can lock down the whole facility. The security hub's the last logical fallback, and we'd have cover from the turrents all the way." The captain informed with his chest puffed up.

"What kind of research is done here?" Shepard asked, The captain shrugged.

"Beats me. I'm not supposed to know. So long as people don't start dying, it's not my problem." The captain replied.

"How are your people holding up?" Shepard asked wondering about the civilians in there.

"We weren't expecting the initial wave. They made it inside, but... we lost some good people. Those of us left are shorthanded. We've kept order by long shifts and stims. I don't like it, but I don't see an aleternative." The captain said in sadness and fatigue.

"Well then I best get to work." Shepard said. The captain nodded in understanding.

"Yea, I hear tha-" Suddenly they heard movement in the floor vents along with hissing and shrieks.

"Hell, man the perimeter!" The captain said as he grabbed his assault rifle. Shepard and the squad took out their weapons as well and turned to where the biggest vents were, behind them. Almost immediately, 2 huge bugs came out and everyone unloaded on them killing them instantly.

"Thanks for the help. Every few hours, a group comes up the tram tunnel. It's actually been better since we locked down the elevator." The captain said after everyone lowered their weapons. The captain said in gratitude.

"They always attack here? It's an obvious kill zone." Shepard said wondering why they did such a futile attack.

"Well for them it's either come through here or go through the ducts down the mountain and freeze. I don't know why they keep throwing themselves against our defenses. Even animals should learn not to stick their noses where it hurts." The captain replied before letting the team through. The team walked through the hallways until they came to a larger area that housed a few scientists as well as an elcor and an asari. Everyone parted and walked around to find out some other things about what had gone down here. Shepard noticed the asari seemed to be meditating and chose not to disturb her as he walked by. As he passed her however he could have sworn he heard something near her. He couldn't tell what it was, but if he had to guess it was almost like a faint... whispering sound. Strange.

Shepard remembered something about medical care and figured they'd need to restock on medi-gel so he went towards the medical bay. There he found a single doctor watching after several sick patients.

"Hang on." The doctor, Cohen if he remembered correctly, said.

"Uhh" groaned one of the sick patients.

"I know you'd have a cure by now." Cohen said as he typed on one the medical console. Shepard silently approached the man.

"Um excuse me?" He asked. Cohen whirled around, startled.

"What? What do you want?" He asked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Shepard apologized. Cohen shook his head.

"No. You did nothing wrong. I'm just distracted." Cohen replied.

"What happened to these people?" Shepard said as he looked at the sick patients.

"They're suffering from a toxin. There was an accident. I-I have a non-disclosure agreement. I shouldn't discuss it with anyone outside of the company." Cohen explained regretfully.

"And I can keep a secret." Shepard replied.

"I like to think that the company values our lives more than their secrets. You know Mira? The VI for Peak 15? She handles safety protocols for our experiments here." Cohen informed. Shepard nodded.

"Yea I know her. We reactivated her on our way through Central Station." Shepard said. Cohen looked surprised.

"That was you? I'm grateful. Until she came online, the automatic equipment wouldn't work. We lost the connection to Mira in the middle of an experiment and the quarantine failed. These 3 were exposed to a toxin. Something we were working on." Cohen explained.

"I need full cooporation or I won't help." Shepard said seeing as the man was holding something back. Cohen's eyes widened.

"No! Wait! It's a bio-weapon based on an exotic lifeform out on the frontier. They wanted something that could kill the creature, but there was no profit in something that kills one species." Cohen began. Shepard face-palmed seeing where this was going.

"Oh my god. You guys made a cross species virus didn't you?" He asked. Cohen nodded at Shepard's question.

"Yes. We kept working on it and adapting it to affect more species. Thores-B is highly infectious, but can't pass from one person to another. Like a biowar attack without a pandemic spread." Cohen finished.

"The perfect weapon to take out isolated communities and punch big holes in armies." Shepard stated.

"Militaries, governments... they'll get this kind of weapon one way or another. We're trying to limit the damage. I know you can't see that." Cohen argued back.

"Is there a cure doctor?" Shepard asked seeing that the conversation would nowhere arguing about it.

"Our first priority was to get it working. We where close to synthesizing an antidote, but Mira shutdown. Our notes and equipment are locked in the quarantine labs. Captain Ventralis doesn't want to risk more contamination." Cohen informed.

"Is he right to keep people out?" Shepard asked.

"No! The toxin has a brief period of viability. After that it breaks down into simple protein chains. But he won't listen to me." Cohen said with a grim expression.

"I'll talk to him and see if I can't go in there." Shepard said. Hope lit up Cohen's eyes.

"I can't ask you to do this officially, but if you can do anything, I'd appreciate it." Cohen said. Shepard nodded before he left to find Ventralis.

* * *

Shepard had managed to convince Ventralis to let him go inside under the condition the guard scans before he leaves the room to make sure he was clean. So here Shepard was talking to a turian guard just in front of the quarantine room.

"Your not part of the crew." The guard said.

"Yea and Ventralis also said I can go in to make a cure for those that are infected." Shepard replied. The guard nodded.

"Yea he did radio ahead. He also mentioned that you need to prove your not contagious to get out." Shepard nodded before walking in. Once inside he spotted the desk and walking over to it, finding beakers, test tubes filled with chemicals and the notes. He carefully looked them over.

_"We've isolated four chemicals that can be combined to counteract the toxin. They must be mixed in precise quantities. As each chemical is poured, the equipment will mark the minimum and maximum amount that will work. Too little or too much will spoil the result." _Okay simple enough. He walked over to the lab station and began mixing. After a few trials in 30 minutes, Shepard finally made the cure. He carefully secured it and pocketed it. He then felt a biotic signature coming close to his location. At first he thought it was Liara since it was around her signature, but he started having second thoughts when the whispering came back. Then a thump was heard.

'That can't be good.' Shepard thought as the door opened to reveal the asari scientist, accompanied by 2 geth troopers.

"Your mission ends here Shepard." She said with a pistol in hand. He knew she was working for the Matriarch now but he had a bad feeling about that thump earlier.

"What happened to Ventralis' man?" He demanded. She smirked in response.

"I didn't permission to come in. He got in my way. I was ordered to eliminate you should the opportunity arise and here you are trabbed in this lab. Weapons free!" She said. The geth aimed their rifles at him while the asari began to use her biotics.

"I don't have time for this shit." Shepard mumbled before Isaac used the omni-destruct on the geth. Shepard lifted his hand towards the revealed asari commando, and biotically lifted her up.

"W-W-What are you- gahh!" She said in alarm until her heart was crushed by Shepard's biotics. Purple blood spewed out of her mouth as she died instantly. The geth looked on as the omni-destruct had actually caused their mobile units to malfunction. Shepard looked at them as they looked back and took out his pistol.

"2 geth infiltrated the facility." Shepard said as he shot the geths' lights out. "A doctor and a guard spotted them and acted in self-defense." He grabbed the geth's rifle, aimed at the dead asari and fired a couple of round into her corpse. "They manage to disable the 2 geth but sadly were fatally wounded in the process." He then dropped the gun as he walked out. He turned to the side at the door to see the guard dead, with bullet wounds. Blood was already pooling around the 2 corpses as Shepard began to walk back to the medical bay. One more person he killed with his brutal biotics. At least it was instantaneous. Before he could reach the elevator, a volus came up to him.

"They came out of there." He said pointing to the the door on the other side of the room.

"You mean the ge- the inorganics the asari had with her?" He asked. The volus nodded.

"Benezia brought them with her." He said. Shepard looked at the man for a minute before realizing who he was.

"You're Dr. Olar. Aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes." The volus said nodding in a solemn state.

"Look Dr. Olar I need you to tell me about thos things out there." The volus' response shocked him.

"You mean the rachni?" Olar replied.

"I thought the Rachni were extinct? By the krogan."

"They found it in an derelict ship. An egge. Waiting since the last battles. They brought it here." Olar explained. Some of the scientists in the room were about to speak out against Olar, but one dark look from Shepard kept them quiet.

"Tell me everything about them." Shepard said.

"I told you all I can. We brought the rachni back from the dead. In retrospect, a bad decision." Olar said.

"The rachni are in the hot labs as well as Benezia. Is it possible that she could have survived?" Shepard asked.

"It's possible. The specimens were sensitive to biotics." Olar said. Shepard questioned Olar on his survival in the labs. Olar told him of how he left one of his colleagues to die on the tram. Shepard could see that the volus had much guilt from the experiance.

"If you hadn't, you may very well be dead too." Shepard said.

"Of course. That is perfectly true." Olar said.

"How could I get in there?" Shepard said as he looked to the door where the geth came from.

"Maintainance? A team lead would have access to that place. Like Dr. Cohen in the med bay." Olar explained. Well it was a good thing he was doing something for the man already.

"Thank you for the information. I'll be leaving now." Shepard said as he walked away.

* * *

Shepard had made it back to Cohen easily enough and handed him the phial. Cohen warned him about how the guards were on edge since he and his team had arrived. Almost as if they had been expecting them. He knew there was something about those guys! Seeing a dangerous fight happening if he confronted them he remembered an alternative. Shepard asked if there was any guards in maintainance to which he got a negative. He asked if he could use Cohen's pass. The doctor was more than happy to give it to him.

"I can't thank you enough. God. What a cliche. You saved their lives, you know that?" Cohen thanked as he looked over the phial.

"It's no problem. Thanks for the pass." Shepard said as he left. Time to get the squad together.

* * *

A few minutes later and everyone was with Shepard in front of the maintainance door. Before entering it, Shepard needed to tell them about the rachni.

"Guys listen. I found out what we these bugs are. They're actually rachni." Shepard said making all of them go wide-eyed.

"Rachni? That's preposterous." Liara said.

"It's true." Shepard replied

"Don't screw with me, Shepard. They can't be rachni." Wrex said in shock.

"Yeah, I mean the krogan drove them to extinction a thousand years ago." Garrus said in agreement.

"Rachni? I think I've heard that before." Ashley said to Kaidan. Kaidan told her about the Rachni wars which caused her to be further on edge with them. Shepard explained to them of how the company found a derelect rachni ship and its special cargo. Afterwards they all exited the area before the guards caught onto them.

* * *

After making it through the freezing maintainance area, the team was finally in the hot labs. They made their way through the hallways with the guards none the wiser. After a few more steps they came to the main lab to find the Rachni Queen in a glass prison. That was when Shepard felt to strong signatures, side by side. Ever since coming here, he felt the rachni presence as a twitchy feeling. Feeling like he could never stay completely still in one place. Almost as if he was in enemy territory. Being next to the queen was around 10 times that. The agitation was almost unbearable. He then felt Benezia. Powerful, cold and... erratic? Something was messing with her. He could now here those whispers again. What the hell were they? He'd have to figure it out once he defeated her. That was going to be a challenge in itself. She was on par with Aria, maybe even stronger, but he wasn't a fresh biotic anymore either.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life. Turn it toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours. Raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies" Benezia's cool voice sounded out as she stepped to the top of the staircase where the controls to the Queens cage was. Benezia focused on the group, but here gaze lingered on 2 in particular.

"I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into this conflict." Benezia said to Shepard. Shepard looked at Liara seeing what Benezia meant before turning around to face Benezia.

"Liara's here because she wants to be. Not because I asked her to." Shepard said. Liara straightened up up Shepard's words. Benezia looked to her daughter.

"Indeed. What have you told him about me Liara?" Benezia asked as her stare bore into her daughter. Liara didn't shy away from it though.

"What could I say mother? That you're insane? Evil? Should I explain how to kill you? What could I say?!" Liara said with her voice cracking as she continued talking. Shepard didn't need to look back to know Liara was starting to have tears well up in her eyes. Benezia wore her stoic expression as if she wasn't moved in the slightest. Her gaze turned back to Shepard with mild interest.

"Have faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have." Benezia said as she stepped forward. Shepard smirked.

"Not a whole unit before, no. But I have faced off against a Justicar who was being controlled on Tofan." He replied as his biotics manifested around him. Benezia's eyes narrowed at him.

"So you really are Ghost after all. I remember when that Justicar arrived back on Thessia. She said even though she was holding back by fighting the control implants that you held back as well." Benezia said as her own biotics manifested around her. Both auras appeared to be equal in size and power.

"Hmph I thought as much. An Asari Justicar is far more powerful than that was back then. Then again I was still relatively inexperienced with my biotics. Now I've completely mastered them." Shepard with his confidence. Benezia's cold stare was now solely on Shepard. Shepard felt multiple biotic signatures closing in on their location.

'Damn she tipped them off.' "Guys, her commandoes are coming. Take them on while I fight Benezia here." Shepard ordered.

"Shepard..." Kaidan was about to object when Shepard cut him off.

"None of you are strong enough to take Benezia alone. I can, but I can't fight her AND her commandoes at the same time. Besides I don't think she'll just sit back and watch. I'll trust you to guard my back, trust me to guard your's." Shepard said. Kaidan was reminded of the time they both met on Elysium. Neither of them knew that much about each other then, but when the raid started they both covered each other and trusted one another. Kaidan nodded before taking a different route to where the commandoes were coming from everyone followed after him but Liara stayed behind.

"Shepard- I." She tried to say but she couldn't bring out any words.

"Don't worry Liara. I told you when you joined up that I'd sort this mess out with her. I'll bring her back. Bet on it." Shepard reassured. Liara looked at him stunned, having completely forgotten about that. She looked at him before looking up at her mother who completely ignored her. She looked away and followed everyone else. As the gun fight began Shepard leaped at Benezia who leaped back.

"You know, I can't believe you would kill your own daughter." Shepard said as took out as pistol and fired it 5 times at her. Benezia stuck her hand out and a barrier formed around her, blocking the bullets as if they were nothing.

"I see now that I should have been stricter with her." Benezia said as she used a throw on Shepard. He quickly dodged it and used pull on her, but she managed to block it. He ran right at her and they both engaged in a biotic melee. Shepard had the advantage over Benezia since they were both using biotics, he also had adrenaline to quick his reaction time. He was starting to get close to catching her off guard when something changed.

He saw Benezia's eyes go pitch black and her biotics increased in speed and strength. He no longer had the offense and was pushed to defend against her attacks.

'What the hell happened? Was she holding back?' Shepard thought before one of her punches caught him in the face. He sent flying back and hit the metal wall. He got back up and spit out a little blood before looking at her. She stood there with her arms crossed as if waiting for him to come at her. He used his omni-bow and fired 5 arrows at her. With each one, he ran at her, getting closer and closer.

'If she's busy focusing on maintaining that barrier, then she won't move until I stop firing!' He thought as his last arrow hit the barrier. Once that happened, her barrier faded away. Both punched at each other, aiming for the face. Both moved their heads out of the way, the punches missing their heads by an inch. Benezia was wondering with Shepard smirked at how he missed until she felt something impact on her check. Her jerked back from the sudden blow only to biotically kneed in the stomach. Shepard didn't stop as he used his momentum twirl around and back hand her with his right hand before following up with a biotic blast from his left. Benezia was sent flying back a few yards before she stopped herself with her biotics. She looked at him with her eyes still pitch black.

"You're going to regret doing that." She coldly stated before she used a very familiar move. In a flash, she covered the distance between them and hit Shepard full force. This time he was actually airborne until he hit the door he an his team entered through. He gingerly got back up. She can do that too?! Shepard looked up at her in shock at the attack.

"That move is what we asari call biotic charge. It allows the user to cross a distance of meters in a few seconds. Only asari matriarchs who have trained extensively can use it to this day. Things may be different in the future when they advance biotic implants, but you won't live to see it." Benezia said before she biotically threw a plasma canister. Shepard managed to deflect it towards a geth that came out of one of the other doors. Shepard noticed that there were multiple geth starting to close in since his team had managed to kill most of the commandoes. Shepard and Benezia clashed again, this time using a biotic strike each. Both attacks clashed and struggled for dominance. One would give a little distance then gain a little back.

'How has her power gotten this strong?!' Shepard thought as he began to lose his strength. Wrex destroyed a geth tooper with his shotgun before he looked over at Shepard's fight and saw that Benezia's eyes were black.

"Shepard! Watch yourself. When an asari matriarch's eyes turn black, she's using her full power!" He shouted before shooting another geth to back up Liara.

'Seriously?!' Shepard thought. Only one way to finish this then. He jumped back and created a power strike. Singularity and warp would obviously have no effect on her. Stasis too for that matter. So the only way to win was to use a move she was unfamiliar with.

"So that's the fabled power strike." Benezia said as she studied the attack. So Shiala was telling the truth. They had been looking into him then if they knew about his attack. Shepard ran at her slammed the power strike towards only for her to put her hand up and actually block it?! To Shepard's horror, she wasn't even struggling to block either. So she had managed to analyze it. But it couldn't be that fast. So how... the geth! Tali once said that they geth were all linked. That meant that they had gotten multiple times to see it in action. Dammit! He'd should have expected it! Then the power strike detonated, on him. It lacked a lot of its normal power, but it still stunned him enough that he fell to the ground. He was able took look over and see how his team was doing. The scene shocked him. All of his team were down on the ground. The geth had beaten them all badly. Even Wrex was down. Were they overwhelmed when he wasn't looking? He looked at the ground and saw multple bodies of geth and commandoes. So they were outnumbered and fatigue got them. That was when he felt Benezia biotically lift him up and threw him towards his team, landing a few feet from them. He could hear footsteps approaching him and soon enough Benezia came into view.

"And now the only ones who had a chance to stop Saren will die here." Benezia spoke as she made her way to Liara. She looked down coldly at her daughter who looked back up silently.

"Such a disappointment. You chose the wrong side Liara. Saren will engulf the galaxy in his rule and the return of the reapers will bring about the beginning of the end. Freedom will cease to exist." Benezia said as she readied a biotic strike.

"Shut up." Benezia turned to Shepard.

"Shut up." Benezia gave a cold smile to him.

"No matter how hard you try, you will fail. You can't save your friends and you can't save this galaxy." She said as she turned back to Liara. Suddenly a bright light shined from behind her. She noticed the geth near her were crushed by some type of biotic force.

"I said... SHUT UP!" Shepard roared as he lifted her and threw her across the room. His eyes glew white in opposition of Benezia. His had changed somewhat too and his biotic aura raged intensely. The remaining geth attempted to open fire on him, but he lifted his hands toward them. As they lifted up into the air, he closed his open palms and the geth were grushed instantly. Benezia saw all of this once she landed.

'How? He was beaten! No human can generate this much biotic power. No, not even any asari can do it.' Benezia thought as Shepard turned to her.

"I hate people with your mindset. Thinking they have all the power. Thinking they can make rules and take away people's freedoms! Well guess what? I'm the one who straightens them out!" Shepard said as he performed a biotic charge and closed the distance.

'WHAT?! BUT HOW-?' Was all she managed to think before Shepard grabbed her by the shoulder and threw again, this time toward the Rachni Queen's cage. He was on her again using 2 biotic charges to make his way over to her. She tried to get up only to be grabbed by the neck and slammed against the cage. She looked at Shepard who was visibly growling like a animal. Her eyes widened at his expression. She now knew that he was too strong for her. She could feel his grip starting to crush her throat and seemed to only get stronger.

"Shepard!" Someone called out. Shepard looked to where his team was getting up to see it was Liara. She looked frightened as was everyone else, or at least on edge. What the hell were they afraid of? He saw his reflection in the glass and knew what they were afraid of. Him. He knew he could be frightening but combined with this form he was terrifying. Shepard relaxed himself and dropping Benezia who was grasping for breath while she laid on the floor. He made some distance between the 2 of them.

"This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear!" Benezia said as she got back up off the floor. Everyone came over to see Shepard still in his powered up form and Benezia who was looking at the Queen.

"Start talking Benezia. What is Saren plotting?" Shepard's neutral voice asked as it echoed in the lab. Benezia looked back at him.

"I will not betray him. You will- you'll-" Benezia began to say until she hunched over the control console. Shepard noticed the whispers started to recede until they were gone. Benezia suddenly turned around and Shepard saw that her eyes had lost their cold look.

"You must listen. Saren still whispers in my head. I can fight these compulsions.. briefly but the indoctrination is strong." Benezia said in a warmer voice. Everyone was on edge at her sudden transformation.

"How are you able to break free from his control now?" Shepard asked.

"I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination. Within my inner world." Benezia said to Shepard's shock. So she could do it to? Benezia continued on, "I've been saving it for when I could help destroy him. It will not last long."

"What's an inner world?" Ashley asked. Surprisingly Wrex answered.

"An inner world is a relative state one goes into to keep aspects of their mind safe. I don't know the full details but I do know that only very experienced Matriarchs are the only ones known to do so." Wrex informed. Benezia nodded. Everyone became shocked when Shepard continued on.

"One's inner world takes shape as something that would pertain to the person specifically. It would look like something along the lines of safety, peace of mind or a place where one was in their natural element." Shepard said garnering astounded looks.

"You speak as if you've-" Benezia began to say before Shepard finished it, "Gone into one? Yes. You're probably looking at the only human in the galaxy that can go into his own." Benezia could only look at him in shock.

"So you could turn on us again?" Shepard stated instead of asking suddenly. Benezia nodded sadly remembering the situation.

"Yes but it would not be of my own will, Shepard." She approached them as she talked. "People are not themselves around Saren. They come to idolize him, worship him. They would do anything for him. The key is Sovereign, his flag ship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and its power is extraordinary." Benezia said as she stopped in front of Shepard. He still hadn't gone out of his form yet.

"Sovereign is not like other ships. Where did it come from?" Shepard asked.

"I can not say. The geth didn't build it. Its technology is far more advanced than any known species. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren's will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It was subtle a first. I thought I was strong enough to resist, but instead I became a willing tool eager to serve." Benezia spoke as she remembered the process. Everyone could see that she was struggling with what had happened.

"He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. It's position was lost thousands of years ago." Benezia said. Shepard raised an eyebrow at that.

"How does something that big go missing?" He asked.

"4,000 years ago a star nearby wnet supernova. The shockwave propelled the relay out of its system but did not damage it. Its precise vector and speed are impossible to determine. As millennium passed, the nebula created by the nova enveloped the relay. It is difficult to find any cold object in interstellar space, particularly something covered in hot dust and radiation." Benezia said. From what Shepard knew the Mu Relay was a door for one of the most infamous of extinct races.

"I'm guessing you got the coordinates from the Queen there." Shepard said as he pointed to the queen. Benezia nodded looking somewhat ashamed now.

"Yes. 2,000 years ago the Rachni inhabited that region of our galaxy. They discovered the relay. The rachni can share memories across generations. Queens can inherit the knowledge of their mothers. I took the location of the relay from the Queen's mind. I was not gentle." Benezia said looking down.

"How did the rachni find it?" Shepard asked.

"They searched patiently. They are territorial creatures, driven to close any possible way into their systems." Benezia said.

"And why does Saren need to Mu Relay?" Shepard asked.

"He believes it will lead him to the Conduit. I would tell you more if I could, but Saren would not share his council with me. I was merely a servan to his cause." Benezia said as she looked down in regret. Shepard noticed it.

"You can still make things right. Gives us the information." Shepard said as he stuck his hand out.

"I was not myself but I should have been stronger. I transcribed it to an OSD. Take it please." Benezia said as she walked towards Shepard and handed him the OSD.

"Knowing the relay's coordinates is not enough. Do you know where he planned to go from there?" Liara asked. Benezia shook her head no.

"Saren wouldn't tell me his destination. But you must find out quickly, I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived. You have to-" Shepard sudeenly heard the whispers coming back. "Stop... me..." Benezia walked away from them.

"His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. Y-You should... you should!" Benezia tried to say as she held her head. Liara began to approach her before Garrus grabbed her arm. She didn't pay no mind to him.

"Mother! I- Don't leave! Fight him!" She pleaded as tears started to roll down her cheeks. Benezia looked back at her daughter with a smile.

"You've always made me proud Liara." She said before looking away. She turned around with eyes pitch black again.

"Die!" She said as she tried to attack. Shepard had finally had enough.

"Not this time!" He yelled. He grabbed her throat with his right hand and lifted her off the ground. He then placed his left hand on her forehead and his vision turned pure white.

* * *

Shepard found himself in his inner world, but he noticed he was slightly different. He had all his armor and weapons on but he was never covered in a biotic aura here. He looked around and noticed that the moon was radiating some kind of energy. It was coming off in waves which illuminated the forest.

"You really do know how to get yourself in trouble." He heard his mother's voice. He turned around only to discover she wasn't there.

"Mom? Where are you?" He asked as he continued to look around.

"You won't find me. Not while you are connected to her." Hannah said. John was confused at what she meant.

"You're connected to Benezia." Hannah clarified. John just went ahhh in understanding.

"Yea I guess I have to save her." John replied as if he was looking for someone. Hannah knew what he was looking for.

"The way to her inner world is through that fog." Hannah said. John looked around and noticed that there was a zone that was exuding a lot of fog. So much so he couldn't see through it.

"Well thanks mom. Looks like I better start walking." John said as he began to trek to the fog.

"John," He heard his mother say. He stopped and listened. "This place is based on will and imagination. That indoctrination will not go away easily." After she spoke those words, he voice fell silent. John nodded silently and continued walking. He kept walking through the fog until he noticed the ground had changed. He looked down to see what it was. No longer was it dirt and grass, but concrete. The fog cleared around him and he was brought to a very unsettling sight. He saw buildings of asari make in ruins. Burnt and cracked as if they were going to fall apart at any minute. With slight hesistation, he walked inward. He looked down at the ground and noticed that it was cracked as well, like a few bombs had gone off. Small water fountains were around the area as he continued on. They worked but... it didn't seem like water was pouring through them, but instead a black liquid. What truly disturbed him was the skeletons around. He knew they weren't human by their heads. They were asari. While the scalp crests were cartilage based, the asari did have some mild bone structure beneath them. He came to a plateau where he got a view of the city. He immediately recognized what this place was to Benezia.

"Thessia." He whispered. He had only seen pictures of the asari homeworld when he came to Aria's personal condo to receive private missions or to visit Liselle. It was one the most beautiful places he had seen. He knew the depressing scene wasn't from Benezia so that meant the indoctrination twisted this place. A side-effect perhaps. That was when he noticed a column of black smoke a distance away. He quickly made his way there.

Once he arrived, he found Benezia was the one the smoke was around. She was huddled up and holding her head like a frightened child and it seemed that the smoke was tormenting her. She was about to approach, but thought better of it. If he touched her like this, the indoctrination may get on him to. He then thought of what he should do. His mother's words came back to him.

_'This place is based on will and imagination.' _Shepard smirked. He had been in a lot fights and seen a lot of abilities, those may be able to help out now. He took his left as if he was reaching back for something.

'Please let this work.' He thought before whiplashed his arm towards Benezia. An orb of biotic energy went straight at her, connected by a tether of biotic energy. 'Lash! Alright!' Shepard thought seeing it. The orb latched onto Benezia and he pulled. Benezia was pulled out of the smoke and he caught her before placing her on the ground. She opened her eyes and looked at him, stunned by his presence here.

"Shepard? But how?" She asked. Before he could say anything, he heard a loud shriek. He looked to see the black smoke culminating into a single being. It looked like an asari but there was no blue skin, no flesh or bone. Just smoke. Its eyes became 2 red orbs. It continued to shriek at them. Shepard stepped in front of Benezia protectively.

"You're not getting your claws into her again." Shepard stated. The Black Banshee shrieked and before flying at him at great speed. Shepard used a heavy throw field on her, sending her back into some nearby rubble.

'Whoa! I wonder?' Shepard thought as he created a power strike. The Black Banshee burst out of the rubble before trying to attack him again. This time he threw the power strike. The Banshee attempted to dodge, but its arm was hit taking it off. The Banshee shrieked in pain from losing its arm. Shepard looking at the closely and saw what appeared to be burning embers at the edge of its stub. The embers went out and the arm came back instantly. The Banshee stopped and looked at him before a red biotic aura surrounded it. Shepard knew what it was going to do and manifested his aura around himself and created another power strike. Both used their biotic charges to their fullest. For Shepard time seemed to slow and he saw the Banshee coming at him with its claws out, ready to kill. He knocked one of its hands away and shoved the power strike into its chest.

With a shriek the Banshee's torso was destroyed from the attack. Shepard saw that the head, arms and legs were left. The creature's remaining appendages united and began to form the full body. Once it was done, it attacked Shepard with 3 consecutive biotic strikes. From the front, back and front again. On the third one, Shepard was knocked onto the ground. The Banshee suddenly used an unknown ability. At first he thought it was lift, but suddenly he was violently sent down as the Banshee brought its arm down. It did this 2 more times before someone attacked it from behind. It took its focus off Shepard and saw Benezia attacked it with a warp. Benezia then used reave on it. The Banshee waved around as the biotic wisps attacked it. It then leaped at Benezia, intent on taking her again. It was suddenly pulled back violently by a biotic lash. Benezia watched as Shepard pulled the Banshee, flipping over it in mid-air and then getting next to her as the Banshee scraped on the concrete ground.

"Benezia, I got an idea." Shepard said as he told her the plan. The Banshee got back up and was ready to attack before it turned around. It saw Shepard and Benezia creating a super power strike. Shepard and Benezia used a dual biotic charge and flashed to the Banshee. Seeing this, it created a powerful barrier which blocked the attack.

"WWWOOAAAHHH!/ YYYYYYAAAAHHH" Shepard and Benezia roared as their combined attack struggled with their enemy's barrier. The clash was putting a heavy strain on their environment as the ground cracked and broke apart. The Banshee used one hand to hold the barrier while the other created a pull attack which homed in a Benezia. Benezia was hit and pulled from the clash. Shepard noticed this and grew angrier at how stubborn this dark creature was.

"GGRRRR. DIE DAMMIT!" He roared. The moon above them went from a first quarter stage to a waxing gibbous. The super power strike broke through the Banshee's barrier and destroyed it completely, shrieking until the very end. Once it was over Benezia walked toward him with a shocked expression.

"I-I can't believe it. Y-You destroyed it. The indoctrination i-is gone." She said disbelief. Shepard didn't say anything as he looked up at the moon seeing its new stage. One more to go. He and Benezia looked around as the area began to shift from the war-torn ruins back into a peaceful city. Benezia looked at him with a grateful smile. Tears of happiness flowed down her cheeks.

"Thank you." She said. Shepard smiled back.

"No problem."

* * *

Shepard woke up and found himself out of his form with everyone crowding around him.

"Yo." He said getting everyone to look at him. He then noticed his position and couldn't help but blush. He was currently laying his head on Ashley's lap while Liara had her mother's head on her own. He got up and popped his neck before looking down at Liara.

"She'll be fine now. I managed to remove the indoctrination from her." Shepard said shocking her and everyone else.

"H-How?" She asked. Shepard explained what went on inside her mother's inner world and their subsequent fight with the indoctrination.

"My guess is that since asari can mind meld naturally with other races, and the fact she and I both had access to our inner worlds, I could link up to her's and help her." Shepard finished. Liara started to have tears roll down her cheeks as she felt so happy. Her mother was saved. Shepard had actually managed to keep his word to her. She put her forehead against her mother's and started to cry in happiness. That was when Shepard walked toward the Rachni Queen.

'Now what do I do with you?' He thought. The Queen suddenly put her maw up against the glass. He backed up and bumped into something. Turning his head, he saw one the asari commandoes they'd killed getting back. He quickly made some distance between them. How was she alive? Everyone saw this and got into their battle positions. Whatever they expected, what cam next was definitely not it.

"This one serves as our voice. We cannot sing. Not in these low space. Your musics are colorless." The asari spoke. Her voice was distorted and was almost as if something was whispering her words in the background, underneath her voice. Shepard was confused since he was sure that asari was dead.

"How are you alive? We filled you with enough plasma to pop a tank." Shepard said eyeing the asari warily. Something was off.

"This vessel is at the edge. Yet she struggles. You cannot see her magnificence. We are breathing on the embers. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced." The asari said. Or was it the being that was controlling her. Shepard looked past the asari and toward the Queen.

"We are Rachni." the Queen said.

"How exactly are you speaking through her?" Shepard asked as everyone looked on in shock.

"Our kind sing through touches of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging. She has colors we have no names for, but she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful." the Queen replied. Emotions played out on the asari's face.

"The children were taken from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are." The queen said as tears fell down the asari's face.

"I don't understand. Why are your children killing people?" Shepard asked. The asari's face gained a hard look.

"These needle-men. They stole our eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no songs of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their minds." The Queen said in anger.

"Makes sense. A baby left alone in a closet until he's sixteen won't be sane." Garrus said. Shepard looked down in thought. He now felt sympathy for the rachni. Victims turned killers.

"If you're sure they can't be saved." Shepard agreed.

"It is lamentable, but necessary. Do what you must." The Queen said. She then added, "Before you deal with our children, we stand before you." Shepard looked at her confused. What? What did she mean by that?

"What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?" The Queen said. Shepard now understood that she was asking him for his judgement. His decision to either let her race survive or to die once again. He thought things over until Wrex spoke up.

"There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing." He said pointing to the tanks filled with a green liquid. "Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don't let them come back." Wrex almost ordered.

"Shepard I don't trust this thing. We know its kind are killers." Ashley said.

"They made a mistake. They let the krogan go too far. This is a chance to for use to atone. She has done nothing to us." Liara said back.

"If you kill her, you consign an entire race to death. We should let the Citadel Council decide her fate." Garrus reasoned.

"The acid in those tanks are strong enough to kill anything. No matter its biology. They wouldn't have installed that if they weren't afraid of the consequenes of her getting loose." Tali argued back, siding with Wrex.

"Shepard there are grudges in the galaxy. Grudges that the human race should stay out of." Kaidan said.

Through all of this Shepard remained silent, thinking things over.

"You companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us... or return our people to the silence of memory." The Queen said. Shepard thought things over. He needed to know more before making this kind of decision.

"Are you a survivor form the war? A clone perhaps?" Shepard asked making everyone turn to him. What was he doing?

"We do not know. We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with it's own sour yellow note. Just like the one who invaded our mind." The Queen said making everyone look at Benezia then back at her.

"Then we awoke, in this place. The last echo of those who came out from the Singing Planet. The sky is silent." She finished. Shepard thought things over. If that was the case then the Rachni were merely pawns all those centuries ago. Like Benezia. This was very troubling news. From what Shiala and Benezia said that ship of Saren's was the key. He had to get this information to the Council. But first...

"If I let you live, would you attack other races again?" He asked. The Queen's avatar took on a frightened expression.

"No! We- I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return." She said.

"Why are we talking about this? I'm putting an end to things." Wrex stated as he went to turn the acid tanks on. The Queen's asari had a horrified expression. Before Wrex could touch a button though...

"Wrex stop." Shepard ordered. Wrex stopped and looked at him in shock.

"Shepard if these things come back, there is a chance we won't be able to beat them next time!" Wrex stated. He was about to press the button when Shepard finally had enough.

"Wrex... I said NO!" Shepard stated as he went into his powered up form briefly. The power he exuded was so strong that it bent the metal around them and cracked the Queens cage a little. Seeing this, Wrex froze. The Queen herself was surprised at how strong the human in front of her was. His aura was different than the others. It sang volumes of different colors and notes. She saw how his song drowned out the sour yellow note from the one who invaded her mind. What was he? She noticed he looked back at her.

"I won't destroy your entire race. You'll go free." Shepard said as he approached the console.

"You... will give us a chance to compose anew? We will remember. We will sing of your forgiveness to our children. But..." She said which caused Shepard to look at her.

"Before you do so we would like to know why would you sympathize with us?" Shepard was quiet at the question before answering.

"I know what it's like being the last of something. It makes you feel like you the only one in the world and it sucks. You want nothing more than to build something for yourself. I can tell because I've been in your position. I can tell your stronger than me because unlike me, you won't seek revenge. It's something... I admire." Shepard said before pressing the button. The cage lifted off and the possessed asari fell down like a puppet cut from its strings. The door opened to a different hallway above them. The queen looked one last time at them, specifically Shepard, before leaving.

"If that thing causes trouble Shepard it's your ass." Wrex said. Shepard looked back and smirked.

"I know but think of it this way. If the rachni do decide to wage war, there's a chance the Council might cure the genophage." Wrex's eyes widened at the statement and laughed at Shepard.

"Well then, we can only hope." Wrex said after he stopped laughing. Shepard looked toward Benezia's prone form.

"Let's get going. We need to get Benezia to a doctor, purge whatever rachni are left and tell the Council. Really looking forward to that last one." Shepard said tiredly. At least they were one step closer to getting Saren.

* * *

**Ok! 13,032 words! Wow! Probably my longest chapter yet! Alright people I hope you enjoyed it. If not, sorry. Tell me what you thought of it. Please continue to:**

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	29. Settling things down

**AN: Yo thank you for reminding of that little fact about Saren and the Illusive Man. I might add a small line or something about it on Virmire.**

Recap: "Let's get going. We need to get Benezia to a doctor, purge whatever rachni are left and tell the Council. Really looking forward to that last one." Shepard said tiredly. At least they were one step closer to getting Saren.

Now

* * *

Shepard had sent the rest of the team back to the tram while he walked over to where the hotlabs were. He entered the elevator that would lead down to the hotlabs as he watched his team transport Benezia's unconscious form followed by the science team and what remained of the security force. The elevator doors closed and he descended down to where he could feel the remaining rachni were. As he waited for the elevator to finish its descent, his mind wondered to other issues. What was going to happen with Benezia now? What was with Saren and the Conduit? And more importantly, what was the mystery behind Sovereign? Benezia had said that Sovereign wasn't a geth creation and was more advanced than anything the species of their time created. Was it possibly a reaper ship!? That would explain a lot. He had a hard time fathoming its power. He knew, he just knew when it bore through whatever defenses Eden Prime had, it was all nothing more than an incredibly small piece of its full power. And in the prothean's time, there was obviously a lot more. That thought actually scared him more than he cared to admit. That was when the elevator stopped.

Exiting, he walked forward and was met with a man hunched over in a chair. Not only that but he felt that twitchy feeling when a rachni was near. It annoyed him that unlike biotics and tech users, he couldn't pinpoint where the rachni were except maybe by the intensity from the feeling itself. He looked to the man.

"Excuse me, but are you alright?" Shepard asked with mild concern. The man, or doctor as it were, looked up at him.

"Are you here to secure the situation?" The man asked. Shepard nodded.

"You must listen to me. If we do not contain our mistake, they will drop bombs from the battle stations. You understand?" The doctor continued.

"I don't completely understand everything yet. What happened here?" Shepard asked having thought it over. The Queen gave some good insight but he believed he was missing part of the situation.

"Binary Helix found an egg. It was on a derelict ship, thousands of years drifting. This was rachni ship. Inside they find many eggs in cryogenic suspension." The doctor explained. The egg was that old? Now that it was mentioned, the Queen did say that she could hear her mother crying. That must have been from just before the eggs got frozen.

"So they brought it here to wake it up?" Shepard asked already knowing the answer.

"Binary Helix plan to clone rachni. Mass-produce them. Create an army. But when they get here, they find this egg is not a common rachni. It is a queen. After she lays eggs, they move her to Rift Station. They are thinking that without her, they can raise the babies to be obedient" The doctor said. Something caught Shepard's attention.

"Wouldn't the queen need to have a male to breed?" He asked. The doctor shook his head no.

"Queens are born carrying the genetic code of their fathers. Eggs are carried away from the colony to hatch alone. Queens can lay eggs in hours and have a colony in days. This is how they spread so quickly." No kidding. No wonder they were able to hold a war with the Council for a millennium.

""Look as fascinating as it is I don't believe that we have a lot of time before more of them come down on our heads." Shepard said feeling his twitchy-ness starting to get stronger. The doctor nodded.

"These rachni are beyond saving. It is a sad thing, but they must be euthanized. I am thinking a neutron purge must be set off." The doctor said making Shepard raise an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with the purge system." Shepard said.

"It creates burst of neutron radiation. Kills everything within the station. Things beyond get genetic damage of varying degree." The doctor explained. Shepard nodded in understanding.

"Okay. How do we set it off?" He asked. The doctor got up from his chair. Shepard noticed his twitchy feeling got stronger.

"Arming controls are nearby. All you do is insert the key. Then I will give Mira destruct co- URRGGHH!" The doctor said before a tendril pierced through him from behind. Shepard's hand immediately went to his shotgun. The doctor was lifted up before being brutally tossed to the side, revealing a rachni warrior. Shepard used lift on the rachni before firing on it. After killing it, he walked over to the doctor's corpse and looked for the code on his body. After finding it he looked it over before standing up and moving towards the neutron purge. Without any hesitation, he activated it with only a minute to get back to the elevator. He moved to where the elevator was before more rachni popped out of the vents. He immediately ran for it, giving one last glance at the corpse. Silently apologizing he jumped into the elevator and closed the door before it brought itself back up. Part way up he heard the purge go off as well as the dying shrieks of the crazed rachni. He closed his eyes in a rare moment of prayer before he made his way back to where he left his team with everyone.

* * *

After making it back to the Normandy, everyone broke off to go to their personal quarters. Shepard stayed with Benezia and led her down to to the cargo hold. While they made their to the elevator Shepard saw some glares sent Benezia's way before they entered the elevator along with Ashley, Wrex, Garrus and Tali. The four mentioned were keeping a wary eye on Benezia as she continued to watch Shepard. The man himself just had his eyes closed in thought. He was tired from the mission itself. Dealing with extortionists, trekking up and down a snowy mountain, fighting multiple enemies of varying degrees, and having to decide the fate of race? It was nearly too much. At least it most likely wouldn't happen again. (Hah! Yeah right.) He could sense Benezia's anxiety.

"I'm going to place you in cryogenic stasis for the time being. Don't worry I'll let you out when I'll talk to the Council. You'll have your chance to explain what's happened I promise." Shepard said.

"It's not that. It's just... I'm having difficulty trying to figure you out." Benezia responded making Shepard look at her.

"Pardon?" He prompted.

"It's just that your very unusual for a human. From Saren had found on you, you've been through many deadly situations, lost so much at an early age and yet your personality isn't like most would be."

"Like most would be?" Shepard parroted. The others watched on in silence. Benezia nodded.

"Most others would have broken. Become more darker. More angrier at everything. But you... your personality is much brighter, but still has a very serious tone to it. I sensed that much when you melded your mind with me." Benezia explained. Shepard ahhed in understanding.

"I most likely would have all those years ago but... I had help. People who became close to me helped keep me from becoming like that." Shepard said as he remembered Zaeed, Isaac, Liselle and even Aria in her own small way. The elevator ceased its descent and opened. Shepard let Benezia step out first before leading her to the cryo tube. Everyone else exited behind them and watched.

"Here it is. I managed to fix it so that there won't be any side effects. It'll be just like going to sleep in a cold room." Shepard said as he activated it. Benezia watched the cryo tube open up. She gently laid herself into it before it closed on her before she was flash frozen. Seeing it was successful, Shepard walked over to the elevator before saying, "Meeting in comm room in a couple hours. Rest and relax. I figure we need it after today."

* * *

A few minutes later...

Shepard walked out of his room to find Joker sitting at the table again eating some chili.

"Hey Shepard." Joker greeted.

"Hey" Shepard said as he grabbed a bowl and got himself some. He opened the fridge and got some cheese to put on his chili before putting it back. He walked over and sat across from Joker before eating. After a few minutes of silence Joker started talking.

"So how were things down there?" He asked.

"A gigantic pain in the ass." Shepard responded without missing a beat. Joker chuckled at Shepard's response.

"Boy am I glad to be off of Noveria. Don't know which was worse: the cold or the corporations. One will freeze your balls off. The other will sell them out from under you." Joker said causing Shepard to crack a smile.

"Yea I'd rather not go back to planet ever again." Shepard said making Joker nod. Joker got his serious face on.

"So I noticed you brought a guess. Do I need to ask who she was?" Joker asked.

"That depends. You wanna play 20 questions?" Shepard asked as he continued to eat. Joker shook his head at Shepard's comeback.

"So how'd you do it?" Joker asked as he went back to eating. Shepard swallowed his food before responding.

"I found out that something was controlling Benezia Joker." The pilot looked up at him in confusion. Seeing his pilot's face Shepard explained further.

"I've had a feeling that something was off about this whole situation when we had that trial back before they inducted me as a spectre." Joker nodded.

"I found it strange at the Council's reaction with the whole thing. With how fast Saren and Benezia turned on everyone. That got me thinking that I should dig a little more about them. What I found on Saren was the typical turian stereotype. You know: disciplined, loyal, patriotic, a stickler for tradition and has a pole up his ass when it comes to duty and humans." Shepard said causing Joker to snort. Shepard waited for his chance to continue.

"With Benezia it was the same deal. Kind, generous, polite, always going for the cooperation between races. A real mother-may-I. But then suddenly they turned on everyone so fast. For us it wasn't shocking with Saren, but when Benezia came into the fold I knew immediately that we weren't seeing the whole picture. I started to think that maybe Benezia and Saren weren't our real enemies. That maybe someone or something was merely working behind the scenes." Shepard said. Joker looked at him for a minute before talking.

"Wait so you mean that there is someone who is using them?" Joker asked. Shepard nodded.

"Yes and from what I found out from Benezia today proves it. At least partially anyway." Shepard said.

"You think it might be geth doing this?" Joker asked, their meal momentarily forgotten. Shepard shook his head.

"I suspected it at first, but when Benezia talked about that ship of Saren's, Sovereign?" Joker nodded. "She said it was more advanced than anything any of the species in our galaxy had created, including the geth." Joker's eyes widened.

"And I'm inclined to believe her. We've heard reports of what the geth can do in the last few centuries and none of it came even close to what Sovereign can pull." Shepard said in thought.

"Jeez this whole thing is getting crazier and crazier. I mean the whole thing with the geth and Liara? Okay that was strange but nothing major. Then it's a colony with mutant zombies. And if that wasn't strange now we find out that we don't really know what's what with the situation here. This sucks Shepard." Joker said.

"Agreed." Shepard retorted before digging back into his meal with Joker shortly following. One thing was still sticking in his head. Why had he felt something sinister from Sovereign itself? Back on Eden Prime it barely registered to him, but after all of this the feeling of nostalgia and dangerous only got stronger. He'd have to think more about this later...

* * *

An hour or 2 later...

Everyone was in the comm room including an awakened Benezia. As everyone took their seats, Shepard bade her to stand in front of them. Most likely for everyone to keep her in their sights. While Shepard and Liara knew she was no longer indoctrinated, everyone else was not as believing. It would take time. After a tense silence Ashley spoke first.

"So what's our next move Shepard? Head for the Mu Relay?" She asked. Shepard shook is head no.

"The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems. Unless we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time." Shepard said. He looked toward Benezia for confirmation. She nodded to him in response.

"Shepard is right. We cannot rush off blind. We still need to learn more about Saren." Liara said having seen the small by-play between her mother and her... romantic interest.(You would call it that right?) Ashley's expression turned a little sour at Liara's remark.

"Who put you in charge? Did Shepard resign when I wasn't looking?" Ashley said as she sat back into her chair giving a small glare to Liara. The asari herself looked somewhat indignant at her rival's remark. She was just stating a fact. What was...? Benezia noticed this easily. She wondered silently at her daughter's expression not having seen it since their last argument.

"We're all on the same team here, Ash. She's just trying to help." Shepard lightly admonished. Ashley quickly caught herself from Shepard's interference.

"Sorry Shepard." Ashley said. Shepard sighed seeing everyone was still on edge from what happened.

"This is a tough mission. We're all on edge. Everyone go and get some more rest." Shepard said as he got up. Everyone took his lead and left but Liara stayed and spoke with her mother before she walked out. As soon as Liara left Joker's voice came over the intercom.

"The Noveria reports are away Shepard. Want me to patch you through to the Council?" Joker asked.

"Yes. As far as I'm concerned I need to speak with them." Shepard responded.

"Right setting up the link now Shepard." Joker said. Benezia walked up beside him.

"You nervous?" he asked.

"Some what, yes." Benezia responded.

"Don't worry too much. I had my suspicions about you and Saren being manipulated. Even brought those concerns to the Council." Shepard said causing Benezia to look at him in shock.

"And what did they do?" She asked.

"I raised several valid points and they told me to see if they were true. If they were, save you. If not... well." Shepard said before the comm came up and the projections of the Council came up. Tevos looked to speak up before she and her colleagues noticed Benezia.

"B-Benezia?! So Shepard managed to save you after all." Tevos said in shock. Valern and Sparatus looked to be in the same boat as her if their wide eyes were any indication. Benezia nodded at Tevos' statement.

"Yes Councilor Tevos. Spectre Shepard had, by some miracle, managed to save me." Benezia said.

"So you were under some form of control?" Valern immediately asked. Benezia nodded.

"It was a form of brainwashing the likes of which I hadn't seen." Shepard stated gaining their attention.

"There was no control chip used at all, but something was messing with her thoughts on a pretty big level." He continued.

"How are so sure then that she is completely safe from doing more harm?" Sparatus asked as he watched Benezia like a hawk.

"I managed to meld with her and was able to... hmmm put things back into place shall we say." Shepard stated.

"Ludicrous!" Sparatus retorted. Shepard looked at him annoyed.

"Asari can meld with different species using their minds and their nervous systems and you don't believe that there is a way to control someone by doing something similar?" he asked as he crossed his arms. Sparatus didn't bother responding to his question this time. That was when Tevos spoke again, this time looking down at something.

"Is this report accurate Shepard? You found rachni on Noveria?" She asked. Before he could answer Sparatus cut in also looking down.

"And then released the queen! Do you have any idea what you've done? How many generations until they overrun the galaxy?" Sparatus said or more like demanded and accused at the same time.

"This queen is different. She understands why her kind were wiped out last time around." Shepard defended.

"I hope you're right Shepard. Our children's children will pay the price if you're not." Sparatus warned, appearing to be tired from arguing with Shepard for the moment. His hologram winked out of existence a second later followed by Valern. Tevos remained.

"Yes Councilor Tevos?" Shepard asked.

"How were you under control Benezia?" She asked.

"Saren's flagship, Sovereign, has some sort of mechanism or ability to enslave minds. I tried to save him but in the end, I became his slave. The indoctrination was so strong that it even pierced my Inner World." Benezia said causing Tevos' how eyes to widen. She knew of it even though she herself hadn't been able to access her own. But if what Benezia said was true, then by all means she shouldn't be free of Saren's control.

"But how are you free?" Tevos asked. Benezia looked at Shepard before looking back.

"This human, Ghost, is very special. He himself has found a way into his own Inner World. He connected with my mind and purged whatever was infesting it." Benezia said with a small smile. Tevos actually studdered for a minute.

"B-But that shouldn't be possible. Only asari have ever been recorded to being able to access their Inner Worlds. Even then they are few and far inbetween." Tevos then looked at Shepard.

"How?" She asked. Benezia also stared at Shepard waiting for his explanation. Shepard thought it over before answering.

"To be honest I don't really know how. All I know is that the first day I went into that biotic form you both know about, caused me to be knocked out and when that happened, I was suddenly in my Inner World." Shepard explained. Benezia and Tevos became pensive at the human's explanation.

"There is an old saying, 'When we reach our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.'" Benezia said.

"I doubt it was my lowest point. Maybe that situation gave me the final push though." Shepard said. Tevos looked at the 2 before and was mildly shocked at how casual they were talking to each other. Here was a human who was dealt with a life with so much fighting that he should be constantly angry and anti-social, yet he's nearly the complete opposite. Beside him was an asari matriarch who had just been used like fresh maiden and yet still retained her cool and calm composure. Aria was right. This human was definitely something else.

"I see. What of Saren, Ghost? Do you believe he himself is also under control?" Tevos asked. Shepard looked at the ground in thought for a minute before answering.

"I'm unsure. Part of me doesn't believe he is, but the other part of me does. I'll need more information before judging." Shepard said.

"I understand. Keep your ears open Ghost, we may call again." Tevos said nodding.

"Wait." Shepard said. Tevos looked at him.

"What should be done with Benezia?" He asked. Tevos mulled things over before answering.

"It would be best that she stays on the Normandy with you. If what really happened in your report is true then you are one of the few who can take her on alone. Besides, people may find it more comforting that you are the one watching her instead of her walking free or having an armed escort." Tevos replied.

"Understood." Shepard said nodding. Tevos nodded back before her hologram winked out. As Shepard walked out Benezia began talking.

"Shepard." Shepard stopped and turned to her.

"I wanted to say thank you again." Benezia said as she walked up to him with her hand out. Shepard smiled and shook it.

"Like I said, no problem. I accomplished one of my goals after all." he replied. Benezia shook her head.

"I'm not saying thank you for saving me. I'm saying thank you for saving my Little Wing." Shepard rose an eyebrow at the name.

"You mean Liara right?" Shepard asked. Benezia nodded.

"I'm happy I made that decision years ago. It truly was best." She said.

"Decision?" Shepard prompted.

"Yes. When Justicar Samara returned from Torfan, a few matriarchs including myself and Tevos held a meeting to decide what course of action to do with you." Benezia said.

"With me?" Shepard was very confused. Why would the asari have a meeting about him? Sure he was working under Aria. Sure he had saved a Justicar and few hundred asari back then but why would high ranking asari like Benezia and Tevos have a meeting about him? Soldiers and mercenaries he could understand, but politicians? Benezia noticed his confused expression and chose to explain further.

"You must understand that back then while Humanity had joined with the Council, their military, while impressive enough to battle on par with the turians, was severly lacking in biotics. Even then, the few they had were nowhere near the level you showed on Torfan." Benezia explained. Shepard began to understand.

"So the asari were more concerned about what I represented. A human capable of matching a veteran asari, a Justicar in biotics, just 2 short decades after First Contact." Shepard stated making Benezia nod.

"We didn't know what to think. True the Justicar was holding back, but so were you. Finally it was decided that we would wait and see what you would do. We listened for any news regarding you for years until we realized that you would not be leaving the Terminus any time soon. So we decided to keep our distance. To allow you to roam free unless you became a problem. I voted that we should let you do as you please. I'm glad to see that I made the correct choice." Benezia said. Shepard nodded.

"If you hadn't, it may have cost you more this time around." he said. Benezia wore a grim smile at his words.

"You are correct Ghost. If not for you, I would not be standing here and my Little Wing would most likley be dead." She admitted. Shepard gave her reassuring smile.

"But it didn't come to that. Now go, be with your daughter and talk to her. She may not have shown it much, but I could tell she's been worried about you this whole time." Shepard said as he directed her to the medbay. After she left, Shepard made his way to the mess to see if anything had gone on in his room while he was away. Luckily there hadn't been any so he looked around and noticed Kaidan was fiddling with a panel on the wall.

"Kaidan what are you up to?" he asked. The sentinel glanced at before turning to his work.

"Just doing so minor repair work. We have a few lose wires here. Can you hand me those pliers?" Kaidan said pointing to the toolset a feet from him. Shepard grabbed them and handed them.

"Thanks." Kaidan said.

"So what did you think of that business on Noveria?" Shepard asked trying to make small talk.

"Turning Saren's... What was Benezia anyway? Second-in-command? Advisor?" Shepard shrugged making Kaidan shake his head not really wanting to figure it out. "Anyway, it should set him back a bit. I'm sure Dr. T'soni is ecstatic about this though." Kaidan said. Shepard nodded. On the way back, Liara had never left her mother's side until the were back on the Normandy. Shepard then remembered all the trouble with the rachni.

"Any opinion on the rachni?" he asked.

"Off the record?" Kaidan asked. He could feel Shepard's deadpan stare bore into the back of his skull. It was saying 'it's always off the record!'

"*chuckles* Sorry force of habit. So the rachni? If we'd had the option, I'd soon as have left it to the Council. We weren't out here during the Rachni War. I'm not sure we have any business getting involved." Kaidan seriously.

"Fair enough, but I knew I had to make a choice right there. Especially with how you guys were about argue over it." Shepard said before he noticed that Kaidan seemed to be lost in thought.

"Kaidan you still with me?" Shepard asked. Kaidan snapped out of his stooper fast enough.

"Nothing just thinking about things." Kaidan said.

"Anything you wanna share?" Shepard prompter as he leaned on a nearby rail. Kaidan placed the panel back and stood up before looking at Shepard.

"I didn't think you'd have time to talk, with all that's going on. Just thinking about that whole mess with that New Growth thing. There's got to be some xenobiologists who want to read about the Thorian." Kaidan said. Shepard immediately could see it as smokescreen.

"I'm sure whatever will be done about that will involve a lot of paper work, now what's really bothering you." Shepard said as he crossed his arms. Kaidan smirked at his blunt question.

"I'm just looking for an ear. The debriefing wasn't the right place to say how ridiculous this is." Kaidan said.

"Ridiculous?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. It seems like every other race in the galaxy is wrapped up in their own problems. They don't want to see what's coming." Kaidan explained.

"Wanting everything will be fine? Sounds like human nature to me." Shepard said with a small smirk. Kaidan returned it.

"Yeah, I guess some things carry across species well enough. I should remember that after what happened with Vyrnnus." Kaidan said. Finally, he was willing to talk about it.

"I'd think you'd carry a grudge over the crap you took from Vrynnus." Shepard replied waiting for Kaidan's response.

"Before I met Vrynnus, I knew as much as any other civilian. Aliens were weird, superior, and tried to tell us what to do. I mean it was only 26 years since first contact. That's not a lot of time to understand them." Shepard nodded. That was very true, but sadly people tend to judge faster than that.

"It was Vyrnnus who made me see how human aliens are. They're not different or special. They're jerks and saints, just like us. Hell by the time I got payback I didn't want it anymore." Kaidan continued. Hallelujah! Finally an Alliance soldier other than Anderson who gets it!

"Blowhards are easy to brush off. How'd he finally get under your skin?" Shepard asked curiously. Kaidan wasn't easy to piss off. Kaidan's expression changed to one of regret and sadness.

"He hurt Rahna. Broke her arm." Oh shit. Yep that'll piss off any guy. Hurt a girl he's protective of and all bets are off.

"What happened?" he asked. Kaidan sighed before explaining.

"She reached for a glass of water instead of pulling it biotically. She just wanted a drink without getting a nosebleed. You know?" Shepard nodded. He knew it was difficult the first few months of training. You have to be patient when teaching students their biotics. Aria may have been rough but the worst he got was an insult. Not a broken limb.

"Like an idiot I stood up. Didn't know what I was gonna do. Just something. And Vyrnnus lost it. Beat the crap out of me. Kept shouting how they should have bombed us back to the stone age. That's when the knife came up." Kaidan said. Knife?!

"A military-issue. Right in my face." Kaidan said seeing Shepard's are-you-serious face.

"I cut loose. Ful biotic kick, right to the teeth. Almost as strong as I can manage now. At seventeen, that's something." Kaidan said before looking down in guilt.

"You wanted to help a girl you cared for. That's pretty noble." Shepard said. Kaidan just shook his head.

"Maybe my intentions were noble, but I lost control. I killed him Shepard." He wasn't surprised. A physical biotic attack can be more devastating to someone than power attack in some cases. A biotic kick had to done some pretty serious damage.

"Snapped his neck. They probably could have saved him, if they got him to an infirmary quick enough. But they didn't." Kaidan said.

"What happened afterwards?" Shepard asked.

"Casued a stir when they shipped him home. BAat training was shut down. Conatix folded a couple years later. So yeah, maybe I hated that turian. I mean, if one ass was enough to judge a whole race, I'd hate humans too." Kaidan said. Shepard smiled at his answer.

"A good attitude to have. Keep that level head and we'll do fine." Shepard replied.

"Staying reasonable is about all we've got left. Everyone else in this galaxy seems to have gone out of their minds. Present company excepted, of course." Kaidan said. Shepard just chuckled at him.

"If you don't mind Shepard I'd like to go get some rack time. See you in a few hours." Kaidan said as he walked over to the stasis chambers they used for sleep.

"Yea get a good rest Kaidan. We all need it after today." Shepard said as he got up to leave. Right after Kaidan got in, Ashley came into the mess with a bottle of (alcohol of your choice).

"Hey skipper any interest in a small drink? It's a special occasion." Ashley asked as she set the bottle down and grabs a few glasses.

"Sure what's the occasion?" Shepard as he sat down while she poured the drinks.

"It's Armisitice Day. When the First Contact War ended. My family always marks it." Ashley said as she handed him a glass and sat down with hers.

"Ahh I get it now." Shepard said as he looked at his drink swirling it around in the glass.

"Yeah since I'm the only Williams aboard, I thought I'd ask you." Ashley said.

"Seems like an odd thing to celebrate to me, but then again I rarely celebrate anything anymore." Shepard said before raising his glass. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Ashley replied as she clank her glass with his before they both drank.

"In my family, it's not really a celebration. More like an obligation." Ashley said as she bored herself another glass before handing the bottle to him.

"That explains why you push yourself so hard." Shepard replied as he took the bottle and poured himself another glass. Ashley snorted before downing her glass.

" 'A Williams has to be better than the best, if only to avoid suspicion.' That's what my Dad told me the night before he retired." Ashley said after she swallowed. Shepard smirked at her.

"Well I don't think anyone can say the Williams' family isn't brave." Shepard said as he drank at a more sedate pace while Ashley was pouring another drink. His comment made her crack a smile.

"It does take a special kind of thickheaded to march into a job where your family's blacklisted. I did it anyway. I'm not going to let our name go downwith Arnold and Quisling. Grandad deserved better than that." Ashley said.

"Well tell me what you need. I might be able to help out." Shepard said as he finished his glass. Ashley smiled at him.

"Look at who I am Shepard. Do you ever hear me asking for help? It's not that bad things happen to me. If you stay with me long enough, maybe I'll tell you about some of them. But I deal with them myself." Ashley retorted back. Shepard smiled back at her.

"Well, stick with me long enough and you'll find out I tend to jump in to help out with people's problems." Shepard said.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that. I don't need a shoulder to cry on, a knight to recue me, or a man to make me happy. This is who I am. I like her. And you better like her too." Ashley said blushing at the end.

"If I didn't like her, I wouldn't talk to her as much." Shepard replied.

"So you're still interested?" Ashley asked in an almost shy way. Shepard knew where this was going and sadly he had to stop it.

"Ash... as much as I'd like to try it out with you... I'm afraid I can't." Shepard said as he closed his eyes. He could feel her staring at him with a shocked expression.

"It's Dr. T'soni isn't it? I knew it. The way you're always supporting her and comforting her and she is always deferring to you. I knew I wouldn't be able to measure to that rack of her's either, but I thought I still could-" Ashley started to say before Shepard cut her off.

"It's not Liara either Ash. I plan on putting a stop to that too." Shepard said opening his eyes and looking at her. Ashley looked at him confused. He could see she was starting to have some tears starting to well up.

"Then it's Tali then?" Ashley asked. What? Damn was Tali interested too? Was he going to have this talk a third time?

"No." Shepard said.

"Then what the hell Shepard?" Ashley demanded. She'd probably be yelling if she knew Chakwas wouldn't come to investigate.

"I got a call from my boss about my old girlfriend. I found out why she broke up." Shepard said. Ashley tried to give him a glare. Keyword being tried.

"She's pregnant." Shepard said simply as he watched her reaction. She closed her eyes and tears started coming down. It tore at him to see this happening to her. Another thought entered his head. If this was happening to Ashley, how was Liara going to take it?

"So that's it huh? After she broke up with you, she tells you she's pregnant and you go crawling back?" Ashley asked as she wiped away her tears.

"She did it to protect me. Besides I won't subject my child to a life without a father. I know what's it like. I'm sorry, Ash. I truly am. After this... if you never want to speak to me again, I understand." Shepard said as he got up. He biotically put his glass in the sink before walking over to her side. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder for a few seconds before taking it off and walking toward the medbay. After he entered, Chakwas was their to greet him. He let her look him over to see if there were any problems.

"I heard." She said as she preformed the necessary scans.

"Did I do the right thing?" he asked.

"I believe you did. It will take her some time, but she will move on." Chakwas said as she continued scanning.

"It hurt to see her like that Chakwas." Shepard said in a subdued tone. Chakwas looked at him seeing how it had affected him.

"I-I-I don't think I can take telling Liara this right after doing it to Ash." Shepard said doubtfully. 'He really likes them a lot doesn't he?' Chakwas thought before saying, "You have to Shepard. You know you need to make a clean break when the time comes. This will help prepare them and you for it." Shepard nodded reluctantly at her words knowing they were true.

"Nothing's wrong. It's time." Chakwas said as Shepard got up and walked into the backroom, ushering a confused Benezia out.

* * *

A few minutes later...

Shepard sank to his knees inside the elevator, grateful it was slow this time. He just told Liara the whole story and she wasn't much better than Ashley had been, but it was done. Now all that was left was to let things take their course and hopefully have it end with them parting as friends. After a few minutes the elevator finally stopped. He quickly got up and out before moving to Garrus who was calibrating the mako's gun... again.

"Shepard I... what can I do for you?" Garrus asked having noticed him first.

"Something bothering you Garrus?" Shepard asked. Garrus hesitated before sighing.

"It's Saren. I'm starting to wonder whether we'll ever find him. He's always one step ahead of us. And he's got those damn geth..." Garrus said growling at the end. Shepard knew he needed to get Garrus' head cleared. A distracted sniper was dangerous.

"We're getting close Garrus. We'll find him." Shepard said trying to clam down his friend.

"I wish I had your confidence. I just can't stand the thought of him getting away with everything he's done. I know you're doing everything you can. And if anyone can catch him, it's you, but..." Garrus stopped.

"But...?" Shepard prompted.

"If there's anything else I can do to help. Anything. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it." Garrus said. So that's what was on his mind eh?

"I understand your concern, but we will find him. Just make sure you're ready to go when we do." Shepard said looking at Garrus seriously.

"Yes sir. I'll be ready." Garrus responded back like a soldier. Sir? That's different. After a minute, Shepard noticed that Garrus looked like he wanted to ask something. Before he could say anything however Garrus beat him to it.

"Can I ask you something, Shepard?"

"You just did." Shepard replied with a smirk. Garrus gave one back.

"Very funny. Seriously though. Are you worried that the Council might be protecting Saren?" Garrus asked. Shepard's eyes narrowed at the question.

"I mean they were really draggin their heels before. What if we find him, bring him back to the Citadel, and they refuse to act?" Garrus explained further. Shepard closed his eyes in thought. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't considered it, but...

"You seem to have thoughts on this Garrus. Speak your mind." Shepard said as he looked at the turian.

"Well maybe we shouldn't give them the chance, Shepard. In my opinion, Saren's too dangerous to be kept alive. Too much can could happen. He could escape, or the Council might let him go.." There was that old cynical thought. He wondered where that went.

"If we find him- when we find him, I say we make sure we stop him. Permenantly." Garrus finished. Shepard could the logic behind it. He knew it may very well come to that.

"It'll depend on the situation. I'm not commiting to anything until I've got him in my sights." Shepard said. Garrus nodded at his answer.

"Fair enough. Either way I'm right behind you,... Ghost." Garrus said adding his title as a sign of respect. Shepard walked away to Wrex. He knew if push came to shove and should the worst happen, they'd need the krogan. And to do that, they'd need a leader. A good one.

"Shepard." Wrex greeted in his usual style.

"So you'd rather be a merc than help your people." Shepard stated as he crossed his arms. He was going to be blunt today with Wrex. Too much had gone on. The krogan looked at Shepard for a minute before answering back.

"I'm a fighter. It's what I do." Wrex said. A weak excuse.

"Aren't you worried about what will happen to the krogan. At all?" Shepard asked. The human's constant questioning had finally worn down Wrex's last nerve.

"What the hell do you want me to do about it, Shepard? I'm tired of sticking my ass on the line and getting nothing for it." Wrex said in irritation.

"So you're just gonna give up on your people?" Shepard accused.

"I gave up on fighting for a lost cause. I'm no hero, Shepard. Bottom line: killing for credits simplifies things." Wrex ground out.

"You ever think about helping your people?" Shepard asked not breaking his gaze from the battlemaster.

"I try not to." Wrex admitted looking at the ground briefly before looking back up.

"But there's a lot of krogan mercs out there. I'm always running into them. Half the time, I'm being payed to kill them. But that's just part of the job. You don't get to pick who your enemies are." Wrex said looking at Shepard waiting to see what his response is.

"How long have you been a merc anyway?" Shepard asked.

"Long enough. I took my first contract right after I left my home system. It's good work if doesn't kill you." Wrex said in suggestive tone. Was he trying to mess with Shepard's head? Shepard smirked at him.

"I get the feeling you enjoy your work." He said.

"Sure. You get to see the galaxy on someone else's credits and most days end with a good fight." Wrex said smirking at the memories.

"Just going at it solo?" Shepard asked.

"I've tried more organized fighting. Private armies and such. But it gets too messy. I fight best on my own or in very small groups. I don't like people relying on me, and I bloody well don't like relying on them." Wrex said waiting to see what Shepard will say.

"I guess I can understand, at least partially, but when you lead, you can pick your allies as well as your enemies at times Wrex." Shepard said before Ashley walked past them. Wrex noticed Shepard stiffened up and tried not to look at her and how the human female gave him a slight glance. Were they fighting? Guh. Whatever the case, Shepard had better bed her soon otherwise things were going to be real awkward. As a matter of fact her and Liara. Shepard walked away to talk with Tali, and to also get out of the same room that Ashley was in. He felt if he stayed he was in danger. He finally came to Tali and began talking with her.

"Hey Tali."

"Hello Shepard. Are you alright?" Tali asked in concern.

"Just had to tell Ash and Liara..." and he told her about what had happened. He could see that she was upset about it too. Damn so Ash was right.

"It feels like we're getting near the end, doesn't it, Shepard? With Saren, I mean." Tali said as she turned back to her console. She knew Shepard was the only one who could see her face and she didn't want to see the tears streaming down.

"It won't be much longer. One way or another, it'll all be over soon." Shepard said with certainty.

"You'll find the Conduit before he does. I know you will. You have to." She dried her tears and looked back at him. "And after this is all over, when my Pilgrimage ends and I go back to my own people, I'll be proud to say I was a part of it."

"Just so you know, we couldn't have done this without you, Tali." Shepard said smiling.

"You've been good to me. A lot of people treat quarians like second-class citizens. They just want us to go back to our fleet and disappear." Shepard's smile turned into a smirk.

"Bosh'tets the lot of them." He said causing Tali to giggle at him.

"But you've treated me just like everyone else on your crew. Like an equal. That means a lot. And it says something about you. Whatever happens, I just want to say thank you for that." Shepard's expression turned into a sad frown.

"I'm going to miss you when we all part ways Tali." Shepard said.

"Well that won't happen for a while yet. I'll be right here any time you need me." Tali said smiling. Shepard returned it.

"Thanks Tali." Shepard said as he left.

"See you later." He heard Tali say. He waved back without turning around and left. He managed to make it back into his room without chancing a look at Ashley. He walked past Benezia who gave a strange look like she knew something he didn't. But what? Oh he couldn't bring himself to care. He got to his room, locked the door and began looking over his projects before falling asleep.

* * *

**I'm back people. I'm sorry about the wait but when you write 20-21K words your flame goes out for a while, luckily seeing those reviews sparked it back up. Gillespie thank you in particular. I really needed that. Tell me what you all thought.**

**Good?**

**Bad?**

**In the middle?**

**Also post some ideas for projects that I could have Shepard make later on. It can be anything from a weapon to a security program. Also for those who are hoping it's a harem...**

**I'M GOING TO TRY DAMMIT!**

**It's good to be back.**


	30. Ghosts of the Past

Recap: "See you later." He heard Tali say. He waved back without turning around and left. He managed to make it back into his room without chancing a look at Ashley. He walked past Benezia who gave a strange look like she knew something he didn't. But what? Oh he couldn't bring himself to care. He got to his room, locked the door and began looking over his projects before falling asleep.

Now

Shepard was lying in his room thinking over the last few weeks. They had been... interesting to say the least.

_Flashback_

_Shepard was just walking around the Normandy, bored out of his mind. All he had been doing for the past few days was finding mineral resources for the Alliance, finding Asari Matriarch writings that were being used for historical and philosophical purposes, finding Turian Insignias from their Unification War, Salarian ID tags and League of One medallions, hell he even found multiple Prothean Data disks. Now don't get him wrong, finding all of those __gave him more than enough money. He was currently a few million more credits richer because of it. But now he had practically drained the Citadel side finding all of those and there was still no word on Saren. As if something had noticed our hero's boredom, a transmission came in._

_"Shepard, urgent message coming from Alliance Command coming in. Patching it through." Joker called over the intercom. Shepard moved to the galaxy map waiting for whoever was calling. He almost smirked when he heard a familiar voice._

_"Shepard, this is Admiral Hackett from Alliance Command. We've got a situation here and you and your team are the only ones who can handle it." Shepard's eyebrow rose. Alliance Command had a situation only he and his team could do? Hell most of his team consisted of non-Alliance personnel! But then he thought about it. Hackett wasn't the type of man to ask for things lightly._

_"What do you need, Hackett?" Shepard asked. He noticed a few of the crew members shake their heads at him. Still disrespectful. Hackett seemed to ignore Shepard's mannerism._

_"There is an Alliance training ground where we test weapons and technology in live-fire simulations. One of the VIs we use to simulate enemy tactics in the drills is no longer responding to our override commands. It's gone rogue." Shepard didn't bother asking if it were an AI or not. He knew it couldn't be an AI, not like Isaac._

_"How many casualties?" He asked, using some military speech he learned from Zaeed years ago._

_"Seventeen marines were killed in the simulation exercises before we realized what had happened. That's when we contacted you." was the reply. Shepard sighed._

_"You guys have got to put multiple failsafes in place, including a couple of kill switches that either take out the power or destroy the base itself." Shepard muttered but no one heard him._

_"VI support is critical to our military success. They process thousands of status reports and react in nanoseconds. No human can do that."_

_"Uh-huh."_

_"But as advanced as this thing is with military strategy, it's still just a VI. It's not self aware, and it's completely disengaged from any networks. That's where you come in." Well that explains why they haven't destroyed the base. No sense in destroying everything when you can send a team of soldiers and hackers to finish the VI itself._

_"We need you to fight your way through the training ground to the VI core, and manually disable it." Wait a minute._

_"Don't you have a remote disable?" he asked in confusion._

_"Our failsafes aren't responding. The VI operates on a closed network. It can't affect any external systems, but we don't have any direct access to its processes. We could bomb it from orbit, but the damage to the facility would be catastrophic. We'd prefer to have someone shut down the core. Someone like you." Shepard didn't answer immediately thinking things over. On one hand, Hackett was asking him to do something he really had no part in. On the other, he was really, really bored! Hackett must have taken his silence as a possible rejection._

_"I know you have no real ties to the Alliance and that Council Spectres answer only to the Council, but your still human. Right now we need someone with your combat experience. The VI controls all of the facility's weapons, drones and automated defenses. You're the only one who can pull this off, Shepard." Hackett said. Shepard sighed again._

_"Fine, Hackett we'll be there on the moon soon. Ain't got anything better to do anyway and besides... this'll be my first time seeing Earth. Should be something." Shepard said._

_"Thank you Shepard. Good luck." Hackett replied before the comm cut. As Shepard moved to go inform his team about their little side trip, Pressly caught him before doing so._

_"Sir, have really not seen Earth before?" He asked in mild shock._

_"No. Actually I haven't even been close to the Sol System." Shepard said being honest. Hey living in the Attican Traverse then moving in to the Terminus for most of your life pretty much keeps you from going to the Citadel side of the galaxy._

_"Well at least you'll get to see the Earth at the best viewpoint you can get when we head to Luna." Prosily said scratching his head. Shepard nodded and went to go get his team ready._

_ A few hours later the team found __themselves on Luna fighting the outer turret defense systems via the Mako. With a few meager maneuvers and some thruster usage, the team was able to easily destroy all the turrents. The team quickly got out and split into 3 groups just like they had done on Feros: Shepard was solo, Boys and Girls seeing as the entire training ground was 3 underground bases, it only made sense. Before Shepard made his way towards his assigned base however, he looked up at Earth. As he gazed upon its beauty, he found himself transfixed by the sight. The white clouds, the brown and green land masses and the blue ocean. He felt something well up inside him. Something primal. As if he was staring at his long lost home. One word came to mind as his gaze continued to linger: Perfect._

_"Skipper, are you alright?" Ashley's voice suddenly entered into his helmet. Shepard almost flinched at her voice seeing how it was the first time she spoke to him after the talk he had regarding their 'relationship'. He looked at her and noticed that the others who had began the trek to their outpost had stopped to look at him. He nodded in response._

_"Yeah. I'm fine Ash. Just... taking in the view. Didn't think my first time seeing Earth would be so breathe-taking." Shepard replied as he continued to look back at Earth. He heard Kaidan, Garrus and Liara chuckle at his words while Wrex just made a groaning noise. He could feel Tali's stare on him. He figured that she realized one similarity that they shared was now gone possibly. Neither had seen their race's homeworld, until now. Ashley didn't give any response seeing as this was one of those moments Shepard needed to himself. With a nod, she and her team continued making their way to their base. Kaiden and his quickly followed suit. Shepard remained looking at Human Homeworld for a minute before he stuck his hand out as if reaching towards it._

_'Some day, I'll set foot on its surface. Just like we talked about... Mom.' Shepard thought remembering one of his earlier conversations with his mother before the Slaver Attack. She always talked about how beautiful Earth was. Until then though... He used his outstretched hand to grab his Master HMWA before walking towards his assigned base. As soon as he entered the base he was locked in and toxic gas filtered into the rooms which he didn't worry about since he didn't take off his breather helmet. Not only that but he noticed that Kinetic Barriers were erected at the doorway. He suddenly felt multiple electric signatures start up and were moving around further in. He walked over to the Barrier and shot it until it deactivated. Once it did, he came to another doorway and surprise, surprise: Another Barrier was up. Needless to say that it was safe to assume every doorway probably had one on it. As soon as he got past it he was assaulted by several drones and immediately took cover, narrowly dodging a rocket. He moved to where he could look around the corner and could see 5 drones closing in on his location. He looked at the farthest one and hacked it before using overload on the others. After that the hacked drone attacked the rest giving him the opportunity to move out of cover and take them all down with his Assault Rifle. _

_Without further adieu, Shepard walked further in to find the VI Conduits. The room in which they were located held the main hub of the VI as well several other conduits. Shepard collapsed his rifle and took out 4 grenades before he tossed one each on the conduits. He detonated them with his barrier taking only some minor damage from the explosions. He noticed that something was on the main computer in the room and checked it out. After looking at it he found out that it was the main storage of the VI and he could clearly see all of the other conduits had been taken out of commission by his team. That was when the VI started making more chatter. It all came out in a bunch of beeps and whoops, for the life of which he couldn't understand. Finally he had Isaac hook up to the VI and something weird happened. As soon as he hooked up, Isaac became silent for a full 3 minutes. __While it wasn't much for organics, for a synthetic it was very troubling. Shepard was starting to worry when Isaac finally began talking._

_"Glad that's over." Isaac said making Shepard raise an eyebrow._

_"What happened?" Shepard inquired._

_"The VI tried to hack me and we ended up fighting for control. I got to admit, I can see why the marines had trouble with it in the first place. It was smart enough to fight, but not enough to surrender. I didn't fully delete it but managed to isolate it. The Alliance can take over it from here." Isaac explained._

_"Ok. I'll notify everyone else. I gotta admit Isaac, I was worried. I thought that the only thing that can take you on virtually was another AI." Shepard said as he began to send a message to his team._

_"Well that VI was borderline AI." Isaac retorted trying to defend himself. Shepard just chuckled at him. That was when the terminals started showing binary code _01001000010001010100110001010000.

_"What's it saying Isaac?" Shepard asked alarmed not knowing how to read binary code._

_"It's saying help." Isaac said perplexed._

_"Why is it asking that?"_

_"I don't know. Something isn't right."_

_"Forced sentience possibly?" Shepard offered._

_"Unlikely, but not impossible. Let's just go."_

_"Right." With that Shepard walked out of the room as the message kept coming up on the monitors in an __infinite loop._

_Another couple hours later and everyone was back on the Normandy. Shepard walked to the comm room having heard Joker tell him it was Admiral Hackett again. After a minute, Hackett's hologram came up._

_"Good work on Luna, Shepard. We've already sent teams in to secure it and began repairs. I knew you and your team would get it done." Hackett praised._

_"It was no problem." Shepard replied modestly._

_"By the way. Shepard, Ms. Al-jalani's story on you just aired. She shouldn't have ambushed you like that. But you handled it pretty well." Hackett informed. Oh great. Shepard had almost forgot about that reporter. The other one that he gave Fist's files to and help with the Citadel traffic, she was nice. He liked her. That Al-jilani or whatever, he wanted to punch her lights out, but he couldn't do that since they were in the middle of the C-Sec academy._

_"We have a difference of opinion about that. I hope she believed my sincerity at least." Hackett gave a rare smile at Shepard's reply._

_"You handled yourself pretty well, Shepard. She came across like a raving idiot. Just wanted to let you know about the response back on Earth. Oh and before I go, Alliance Command has another mission for you. If you're interested." Hackett said catching Shepard's attention._

_"Any reason why I should?" Shepard asked._

_"Major Kyle, the officer you battled alongside with at Torfan, has set up a small compound in the Hawking Eta cluster. He's attracted a number of biotic followers." Hackett informed immediately catching Shepard's interest._

_"Major Kyle? The same Major you guys sent to back me up on Torfan. The same one whose team got..." Shepard stopped himself from continuing. Even after all these years he still remembered that desperate fight. How he pushed that team to the point where the only survivors were him and Kyle. Hackett nodded seeing where Shepard was going with this._

_"Since then he's become an outspoken critic of the Alliance, and we believe him to be mentally unstable. This could be trouble, Shepard." Hackett said knowing he had Shepard now._

_"What proof do you have that Kyle is dangerous?" Shepard asked as he crossed his arms. He needed to know what the whole situation was. Hackett sighed at the question. That wasn't a good sign._

_"Three days ago we sent 2 Alliance representatives to meet with him at his compound. They have disappeared. We believe Kyle and his followers may have killed them. That compound is a cult Shepard. They call him Father Kyle now. He's set himself up as some kind of religious leader." Shepard hadn't even thought that the Major he met all those years ago would do something like this._

_"What else can you tell me about Major Kyle?" Shepard asked. Hackett didn't respond immediately making Shepard wonder what the hell happened after Torfan. While he didn't know the man personally, he did strike him as a military man through and through._

_"He's not the same man you battled with. He feels responsible for all the Alliance soldiers who died at Torfan. His psych evaluations showed he couldn't handle the stress of command any more. He was given an honorable discharge and early retirement." Hackett explained. Shepard's eyebrow's narrowed at the explanation._

_"And that's it? No keeping an eye on him for severe depression or PTSD?" Shepard asked, more like __accused. If Hackett felt guilty about it, his hologram didn't show it._

_"We'd hoped he would get better in time, but we underestimated how far gone he was. Now it look's like it's too late." Hackett said. Shepard almost snarled at the Admiral. Almost. Instead he kept his facial expression neutral._

_"I don't believe it is. Not yet. What about those Alliance representatives? What were they going to talk to him about?" Shepard asked._

_"They wanted to bring him back to an Alliance facility for treatment. Major Kyle served us faithfully for many years. We weren't going to abandon him." Hackett replied. Shepard looked at the Admiral for few seconds trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not._

_"Given his state of mind, however, he probably saw them as a threat. We're almost certain that he had his followers kill them." Hackett continued._

_"You said his followers were biotics, right?" Shepard asked thinking of these supposed followers that Kyle had now. Hackett nodded._

_"Yes. Major Kyle never showed any biotic tendencies himself, though. I think he's just latched onto a group he identifies with." was the response._

_"Why biotics though? I'd think he would go more for other people like himself." Shepard asked not understanding why a soldier would go and end up leading a biotic cult._

_"Many biotics feel marginalized or ostracized by society. Kyle probably sees them as victims who need his protection. And they see him as someone who will fight for them." Hackett supplied. Shepard nodded at the Admiral's reasoning._

_"That explains things. He lost what made him feel important and when the Alliance retired him, it didn't help at all. Now he's found others that make him feel important again while feeling bitter about the ones he feels 'cast him aside'." Shepard said thinking things over. Hackett looked to agree with Shepard's conclusion having thought it over himself._

_"Unfortunately he's convinced them that the Alliance is somehow responsible for all of their problems. We can't let him go on like this." Hackett finished with urgency. Shepard knew by his tone that if he didn't help, Hackett would have to send soldiers in and that would lead to a massacre._

_"I'll do it. I might be able to end this without violence... hopefully." Shepard said finally agreeing. It was his fault in a way that Major Kyle was like this now. It was only fair that he be the one to try and fix it. Hackett gave him an approving look at his decision._

_"You fought alongside him, he might listen to you. But he's already killed two Alliance representatives. I'll trust you to use your judgement and send you the coordinates. Hackett out." Hackett said before the hologram winked out. Shepard sighed before he told Joker to go to the coordinates that Hackett sent._

* * *

_A day later and Shepard, along with his team, were in front of a compound located on Presop , the moon of Klendagon. Sadly he was having to talk to one of Kyle's biotic followers._

_"This is a private sanctuary. Outsiders are not welcome here." The cultist spoke through the intercom._

_"I need to talk to the man in charge. It's important." Shepard replied._

_"Father Kyle wants nothing more to do with the Alliance." The cultist asserted as if that would deter him._

_"I'm the Ghost of the Terminus. I was there with Major Kyle on Torfan. I have to speak to him." Shepard replied. The cultist didn't respond at first but Shepard could here some chatter going on before it went completely silent. Thinking it was all for not, he directed his team to start moving back to the mako until..._

_"Wait." Shepard turned to look back at the console. "Father Kyle will speak with you. Only you. Head to the building at the far end of the compound. He'll meet you there." The cultist said before the comm cut off. Shepard began walking over to the building mentioned before Ashley and Liara both stopped him._

_"Shepard I don't think it's a good idea for you to go down there." Ashley said in concern. _

_"I second Chief Williams, Shepard." Liar said with a nod. It warmed his heart that they weren't mad at him anymore. Over the next few days after telling them both about his plans for the future, there was this very awkward silence between all 3 of them. What made it worse was the fact it looked like Ash and Liara were talking about it with Chakwas and Benezia respectively when they thought he wasn't around. Ok he wasn't around but Garrus and Kaidan told him about it and Wrex and Tali confirmed it. And if that wasn't bad enough, he swears he could see some of the other crewmen placing bets on when things come to a head and what would happen. If Ash jumped him, Liara jumped him, both jumped him or nothing at all along with whether it's in a week, a month or around when the mission's over. He tried to ignore it all, but dammit it was a small ship. Anyway back to the matter at hand._

_"Look I'll be fine. In case you guys forgot, I'm the one who took on the Thorian and Benezia. I think I can handle a few biotics." Shepard said as he put his hand up to stop them from following. He could see while the others hadn't moved or said anything, they were silently agreeing. Hell even Wrex was nodding. Seeing his team's uncertainty, Shepard decided to give them a reassurance of sorts._

_"Look if I don't contact you in an hour then go in with guns blazing. Better?" Everyone had a reaction to that. Wrex nodded his head vigorously like a happy child. __Tali looked as if she was holding back a few giggles. Kaiden and Garrus both snorted. Ashley and Liara both gave stiff nods. Shepard nodded back and entered into the compound._

_He walked his way through the compound and past several biotics. He could feel them looking at him, studying him. He did the same to them. While he didn't know how well they could use the pistols and shotguns they carried, he could tell that they were moderately strong with there biotics by the feeling they gave off. Eventually, he came to the back of the complex and found Major Kyle. Shepard could see that the years hadn't been kind to the once proud soldier. Back on Torfan, looked his age. But now he looked like he aged 15 instead of 5 years. Before he could speak, Kyle had beaten him to it._

_"I know you. The Butcher of Torfan. Why have you come here Ghost? Why can't you leave us alone?" Kyle asked._

_"Well... I'm sort of joined forces with the Alliance, albeit temporarily. They told me about what's happened with you. You wanna tell me about those Alliance representatives?" Shepard replied. Kyle's features grew more incensed._

_"They wanted to take me away from here! They wanted me to abandon this place. Turn my back on my family. They spoke blasphemy!" Kyle retorted in an even tone, but Shepard felt the edge in it._

_"Really?" Shepard accused skeptically. Kyle averted his gaze from him for a few seconds._

_"I did what I could to make their end quick and painless. I had no other choice. It was necessary to protect my children. Only I can keep them safe." Kyle defended. Shepard just shook his head no while he didn't break eye contact._

_"No. You know that's not true. The Alliance sent me here to bring you back, Major. Can't you see this has gotten out of hand? Don't you see that you're endangering your followers?" Shepard said as he got closer to the Major. Kyle didn't back down._

_"I respect that you have come under a banner of peace. But I cannot do as you ask. If you take away their father, my children will become helpless." Kyle said with some desperation mixed in._

_"If you don't come with me, all of your followers will end up dead. Is that what you want? For it to happen again as it did on Torfan?" Shepard asked. He could see Kyle's eyes gain a haunted look in them and continued, "Look, I'm truly sorry about what happened there. Truly I am. That's why I'm here and not some other Alliance representative. I'm here to fix my mistakes, but stopping you from doing the same one I did back then. Please Kyle. What kind of father let's their children die?" Kyle's head snapped up to look at him._

_"No! This... this was my fault. My children are innocent. Pure. Please... I never meant to for this to happen. I'm... I'm sorry." Kyle pleaded. Shepard smiled at him._

_"You're doing the right thing, Major. Your children will be better off for it. Come on." Shepard said as he moved his hand behind Kyle's back to get him moving. Kyle stopped him first._

_"Wait. If my children see you taking me away, they won't understand. They will attack and you will be forced to kill them all. You've shown me the error of my ways Ghost. Now you must give me time to explain it to them. It is the only way they will understand." Kyle informed. _

_"How long do you need?" Shepard asked._

_"Please give me one hour. After that, I will meet the Alliance authorities at the gates of my compound and surrender without violence. I give you my word." Kyle said. Shepard thought things over. One hand Kyle would telling the truth. On the other, Kyle could be making a trap. Shepard looked into the man's eye and he could see the sincerity in them._

_"Fine. I'll trust you." Kyle smiled at him. "But if you betray that trust, then you and your children will suffer." Kyle nodded at Shepard's warning._

_"I will not betray you, Ghost. Thank you for this." Kyle said before walking to his followers. Shepard got on his omni-tool._

_"Kaidan? Look Kyle has agreed to stand down. See if you can get the Alliance authorities to come and pick him up." Shepard ordered. Kaiden's response came back almost immediately._

_"Joker can have the fifth fleet pick Major Kyle up. I just hope you know what you're doing Shepard." Shepard smirked._

_"I think I do." Was his reply. Some time later, Shepard was back on the Normandy in the mess, eating a __sandwich. Joker called him up to the CIC. Groaning, he took the sandwich and plate with him. Last time he left food and came back, Wrex had eaten it causing Shepard to toss him around for a bit. He finally got to the galaxy map drawing a few strange looks. Hey it's not every day you see the man in charge taking a call while eating a turkey sandwich._

_"Patching it through." Joker's voice came out. Shepard already had a sneaking suspicion about who it was. He wasn't disappointed._

_"Admiral Hackett here, Shepard. Your helmsman just forwarded your reparation Major Kyle." Shepard took a quiet bite out of his sandwich just intent on listening for the moment._

_"We sent in a team as you instructed. Kyle's followers have disbanded, and the major surrendered to us without incident. We'll make sure he gets the help he needs." Shepard swallowed the bite he took._

_"G-*clears throat* Good, just what I wanted to hear." Shepard replied before taking another bite._

_"To be honest, Shepard, I thought this thing was going to end in a bloodbath. I don't know how you did it, but you saved a lot of lives. Congratulations." Hackett said. Shepard quickly swallowed not wanting to be rude and talk with his mouth full._

_"Thank you." Shepard said before the line cut. He looked around and saw Pressly giving him a look._

_"Hey I know it's rude to talk to someone on the comm while eating, but in my defense he caught me at a bad time, I was hungry and we don't want a repeat of what happened in the mess last time I left food." Shepard defended. Everyone hears Wrex's voice from down below._

_"One time and he holds a grudge!" Causing everyone to laugh. Shepard just nodded as if saying 'damn straight'._

* * *

Shepard chuckled thinking back to that day. Then he remembered what happened later on a few days later. He had gotten a call from Hackett about some dead scientists. It lead him to meeting another ghost from his past. One he had believed had been dead for years...

* * *

_Shepard and the team had just gotten past the mercenaries outside the outpost and had fought through more than few inside only to find the last surviving scientist and someone Shepard had not expected._

_"Stay back! I've got no grief with you! All I want is this bastard!" Said the man clad in armor as he held a pistol to the scientist's head._

_"Please! He's a madman!" The scientist said desperately. He looked back at the mercenary._

_"Mr. Toombs, you're insane! You need help!" The scientist pleaded. That name struck a cord in Shepard. He heard that name before, but..._

_"Shut up! You don't get to lie! You don't..." Toombs snarled before he looked at Shepard who was staring at him like he saw a ghost._

_"What?!" Toombs shouted._

_"Toombs? Corporal Toombs? But that can't be possible. I saw you die on Akuze!" Shepard said in shock. Toombs looked at him in curiosity._

_"I don't recognize you. Unless... Ghost. My God, are you really Ghost?" Toombs asked. Shepard nodded._

_"How did you get here?" Shepard asked. Toombs' expression turned into a visage of rage as he looked at the scientist._

_"They took me, Ghost. The scientists." Toombs said._

_"You can't prove any of this! This man is delusional!" The scientist called out. Toombs ignored him._

_"See, they were running tests on the thresher maws. They let those things hit us just to watch and study. I woke up in a holding cell. The scientists were delighted that I had survived. Now they had someone to run tests on." Toombs explain, morosely. Shepard felt guilt hit him._

_"Toombs, I- I didn't know. All I saw was you get pulled under by the maw and that- If I had known you still lived, I would've come back I __swear." Shepard said seeing the haunted looked on Toombs' face._

_"You can't believe Toombs! He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial!" The scientist demanded. Shepard noted that there was something off about this guy. Most scientists would be screaming out 'I didn't do it' but this guy wasn't saying it, only that Toombs couldn't prove it._

_"He was there, you bastard! He knows the truth! They're part of some organization, Cerberus, that runs secret tests like this. They treated me like a lab animal." As soon as Cerberus was mentioned, Shepard and his team gained a hard look in there eyes. After Major Kyle, Admiral Kahoku contacted them about Cerberus. They immediately went to rescue him but it was all for nothing. They found the Admiral's body amongst the labs they shut down on Binthu. Afterwards, they went on a hunting spree and assaulted many bases some of which included Thorian creepers. Not only that, but it seemed that Cerberus got their hands on a few rachni which had gotten out of hand, but the team managed to stop them. Shepard was unsettled at the fact some them shouted 'capture subject alpha' among other things which led to a very awkward conversation with his team. Out of everyone, Kaidan and Ashley were the ones who distanced themselves from him the most. He managed to get the non-human personnel back with him, but the 2 humans were being very cautious. He even saw some mistrustful looks sent his way when they thought he didn't look._

_"This man deserves to die, Ghost. For you, for me, for everyone else in my unit. Are you with me?" Toombs asked him. Shepard understood Toombs better than anyone else in the room._

_"Toombs, trust me. I know how much of a pain Cerberus is. I know what scars Akuze left on you, but Toombs... come on. You're better than this. You're not like them." Shepard said getting Toombs mad. Toombs pointed his gun at Shepard now causing Shepard's team to train their weapons on him._

_"Don't tell me who I am! You got away with a few scratches and a scary reputation! The rest of the unit died, and I was tortured for years, Ghost! You can't judge me! You don't have the right!" Toombs said. Shepard could see the pain in the man's eyes._

_"Toombs, if I could've helped you on Akuze, I would have. All I can do is help now. Let me." Shepard said as he held out his arm for the gun. Toombs had struggle going on inside him clear as day. Finally, he placed the gun in Shepard's hand._

_"Okay. I'm no murderer. They couldn't make me one. Just as long as he goes to trial." Shepard signaled Ashley to cuff the scientist and escort him back to the Normandy. Toombs let out a breath and put his hands on the sides of his head._

_"Maybe the screaming will stop now. I don't know." Toombs muttered as everyone slowly filtered out of the room. Shepard having heard him answered him._

_"Those bastards can't hurt you anymore." He signaled Joker. "Joker, tell the fifth fleet we need a ship for pick-up."_

_"Aye, aye Shepard." Joker responded. Shepard looked at Toombs who stared morosely at the floor while Ashley gave the scientist a shove to the door. It was over for now, but he knew that Cerberus was still out there. And they will meet up again. That was a fight Shepard wasn't looking forward to any time soon._

* * *

Shepard scowled at his thoughts on Cerberus. Those guys were relentless. Kahoku had told them that they were a rogue black-ops organization that were trying to create a super soldier. No... not trying to create, recreate. They already made a super soldier, him. Things from his past had come back to haunt him ever since he revealed himself as the Ghost of the Terminus. When he did it, he believed that he could handle whatever would come at him. What a fool he'd been. He figured the worst he'd deal with would be vengeful slavers and pirates. He not only had that, if what happened a few days ago was any clue, but now he had to find a way to outwit some shadowy organization while still maintaining his freedom. Well at least he and Isaac managed to close one chapter of their lives a few days ago...

* * *

_Hackett had managed to save Shepard from his boredom again with a new mission. Something about one of the nuclear warhead probes the Alliance sent out during the First Contact War. Apparently it had just sent a 'mission accomplished' ping back to Alliance Command. The strange thing was that it was in the exact opposite direction of where they sent the probes. Shepard, against the wishes of his crew, went down to the planet the signal came from alone. All he had on him was his Master HMW guns, a few grenades, his omni-tools, and his biotics. Isaac was with him so at least he had someone to talk to. He took the mako down and tracked the signal to a mine. The alarm bells in his head had gone off immediately._

_"Well, this is suspicious." Shepard commented as he made his way to the mine shaft._

_"It's obvious that the probe didn't crash. Someone moved it here." Isaac replied as Shepard continued to approach it._

_"We'd best be on guard then. There's a nuclear weapon down there __after all and we can't just abandon it." Shepard reasoned as the door to the mine opened._

_"Fair enough." Isaac said back as Shepard took his rifle out and descended down into the mine. After a few minutes of walking around Shepard began getting a bad feeling. The mine was strangely empty but had shown signs of recent activity._

_"Isaac I'm starting to feel like it's..."_

_"A trap?" Isaac finished for him. Shepard nodded. He continued to defend until he found the probe. As soon as he got close to it, however, the doors closed on him and locked._

_"What the hell?!" Shepard shouted in alarm. As he looked behind him._

_"Shepard, at last." A voice said from his side. He turned around to see a human hologram looking at him intently._

_"Have we met?" Shepard asked in mild interest. It wasn't everyday someone had him trapped in a room with a live nuclear bomb. He had to give it to the guy, well played. The human's facial expression turned into a displeased one._

_"You don't remember me. No matter. I remember you. I never forget anyone I've fought. My name is Elanos Haliat. I doubt you know it." Haliat informed. Shepard, and Isaac surprisingly, both snarled at the man._

_"Haliat?! I know your name well enough." Shepard sneered at the man behind the attack on Elysium. Halite smiled smugly at Shepard._

_"Who do you think runs the Terminus Clans, Shepard? Hm? Thousands of pirates, slavers, criminals of every stripe?" Haliat questioned._

_"You assume I actually give a damn. That's cute." Shepard mocked, but Haliat ignored it._

_"The strongest leads. The one who kills the most men. Seizes the most ships. Pillages the most colonies."_

_"Yea, yea. I heard it all before from Aria." Shepard replied. Halite continued on._

_"Three years ago, I was the strongest. I used my influence to assemble a fleet. We would drive your kind out of the Verge." Haliat said now openly sneering back at Shepard._

_"My kind? First of all, don't put me in the same boat as the Alliance. Secondly, you should blame the slavers for my direct involvement. You should have known the second you joined forces with them, I'd catch on to it. Besides, I know for a fact you were used by the Hegemony. They backed you up by supplying you with soldiers in the form of pirates and slavers. Face it Haliat, in the larger scheme of things, you were nothing!" Shepard shot back. Haliat scowled at Shepard._

_"I was the motivator. The instigator. The one who promised glory and riches for sacking the largest human colony in the cluster. The one blamed, when it failed. Failed, because of you and your damnable holding action." Haliat said. Shepard smirked._

_"My crew will come for me Haliat and trust me, you're not going to like it when they do." Shepard threatened knowing it was true. Haliat's expression turned into a sick grin._

_"Let them. We'll be ready. An Alliance warship would make a fine prize. Oh and if you hadn't noticed, the ores here are laced with heavy metals. I'm afraid your suit radio isn't powerful enough to transmit out." Haliat mocked. Shepard scowled at the bastard._

_"You'll see me again, Haliat. Count on it." Shepard replied hostilely. Haliat chuckled at Shepard's threat._

_"I rather doubt that. Goodbye, Shepard." Haliat said before the hologram cut out. The probe began beeping, signaling the nuke had been activated._

_"Shepard, hook me up to it quickly! We can't let that bastard go again!" Isaac urged._

_"Right!" Shepard said as he linked his omni-tool to the probe and watched Isaac work his magic on it. The timer only had 10 seconds on it, but Isaac deactivated it in only 2 seconds flat. Shepard seeing the danger was over quickly moved to the door and hacked through it. He ran his way out of the mine and came to a hill that over looked Haliat's camp._

_"Bastards stole my mako. It's on now." Shepard muttered as he took out his sniper and aimed. He fired 3 shot and nailed 3 of the pirates in the head, killing them instantly. Shepard noticed that besides the average pirates that consisted of turbans, rogan and humans, there were more than a few batarians in the mix to. The pirates jumped for cover when they saw there snipers go down. The batarians activated their hidden cams to catch Shepard in action. The Hegemony had sent them to make sure Haliat finished Shepard off and if not, gain whatever intel on him at any cost. Shepard used his sniper to take out the other batarians, before switching to his assault rifle and slid down the hill as he fired at the camp. He continued to fire as he slid down before grabbing 4 grenade out of his pouch. He activated all of them and threw them near the cover that the pirates were using. Since he had upgraded them using high explosive upgrades they pretty much cut down the rest of the pirates. The only ones still living were the 2 krogan and Shepard approached their downed forms before shooting them with his shotgun. One of the bavarians had managed to survive the explosions looked at the devastation Shepard had wrought and sprinted away from the area. Shepard seeing this took out his pistol and shot the batarian right at the head, killing him. Shepard looked around and couldn't find Haliat's corpse anywhere._

_"Where is he?" Shepard asked out loud. That was when the mako started up and pointed its cannon at him._

_"It's time to die Shepard!" Haliat's voice came out from the mako's speakers. Shepard didn't even bat an eye before he used his biotics and lifted the mako's front half up just before it fired. Shepard then used both hands and flipped it over making it land on its top. Haliat kicked the door out before exiting the semi-wrecked vehicle. Haliat stood up as Shepard approached him. Shepard had holstered his weapons and only activated his omni-blades and had a biotic barrier surrounding him. Haliat took out his assault rifle and began firing at Shepard, scoring him a few times before the weapon was biotically pulled from his hands. He shakily took out his shotgun and fired at him, now a few feet away. Shepard's barrier flashed at the impacts, but didn't dissipate at all._

_"Die, die! DIE!" Haliat roared with each shot. Shepard wrested the shotgun from his grasp with his left hand._

_"Why won't you die?!" Haliat whispered fearfully. Shepard glared at the man before using Neural Shock and held the man in the air._

_"You don't have what it takes to kill a Ghost." Shepard stated before he charge a biotic strike combined with an omni-blade. Shepard let loose and the fatal blow went through Haliat like he was nothing. Shepard retracted his arm as he let the corpse fall on the ground. Shepard stared at the corpse and barely heard Isaac._

_"Good riddance to him." Isaac stated coldly. Shepard was somewhat startled by his tone._

_"Isaac what's with the attitude?" Shepard asked._

_"This guy nearly killed you years ago. I know you've been in dangerous situations before but none of come more close than Haliat. Not even that Cerberus agent." Isaac stated. Shepard understood now. Shepard had been Isaac's only friend and only person to know of his true existence. Isaac had grown attached to Shepard's presence as a result. Not only that, but over the years Isaac had been steadily learning from Shepard what it means to be alive. In doing so, Isaac learned, at least in part, the value of having a bond with someone. And when Haliat had threatened to take away that bond, he earned the AI's ire. Shepard smirked at his lit omni-tool._

_"Well, it's over now. Haliat's gone and we can say for sure that this whole mess with the Blitz is well and truly over with his death." Shepard said._

_"You're right." Isaac agreed. Shepard snorted before signaling Joker to come and pick him up now that it was over._

* * *

Shepard smiled remembering the interrogation the team gave him as soon as he came back with a beaten up mako. It wasn't totaled, just that the cannon looked like it was crushed and the door was busted and sure the windshield was cracked and yes... smoke was rising out from under it but it could be repaired, easily. With enough omni-gel of course. Tali, Garrus, Kaidan and him spent the better part of the next day repairing it.

He then remembered that he was going to have to go back into the cargo bay soon to meet with Liara and Benezia. Since coming onto the Normandy, Benezia has taken to training Liara to better hone her biotics not that she needed it. Soon after Benezia had practically dragged him down to start training along with them. When he asked why, all he got was that Benezia had noticed that he used a brute force application of biotics, mainly because of Aria's teachings. Benezia had said that it would benefit him to learn a more gentle way of using his biotics to achieve a better, more complete control over them. Not only that, but Liara had also began talking to him again, saying she understood why he was doing what he was going to do. Then she muttered something that he didn't quite catch, but Benezia did which made her smile mischievously. He also noticed that during that training, Ashley was looking at him more and more. He knew it wasn't any betrayed or suspicious look anymore, but more determined as if she figured out something for herself and she was dead set on it.

"Shepard!" Joker's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Yea?" Shepard replied.

"Incoming message from the Citadel."

"Who is it?" Shepard asked. Last he got a call from the Citadel, it was from Udina and Anderson. Udina was pissed about his decision to free the Rachni Queen, but Anderson had managed to calm the man down enough. When the Ambassador left, Anderson actually voiced his support in Shepard's decision. Shepard smiled at that.

"It's from the Council." Joker replied. Shepard got up and made his way to the comm room. Finally another lead on Saren!

* * *

**Okay so here it is. I tried to wrap up everything I could. I feel it is time. We are finally approaching the end of this story. After Virmire it's going to be the ****detainee visit, then Illos and finally the final fight. Hope yawl enjoyed it!**

**Review please!**


	31. something all of us dread

Well this is one message I hate giving to everyone. NO! It's not the dreaded quit and go up for adoption message. Trust me those have burned me up more the once.

This is going to be a temporary hiatus. NO it's not going to be one of those ones where they say it's a hiatus and they never finish. Those disappoint me even more. Hopefully this one will be short and not too long, but hey, for any us a hiatus any length is too long, especially when it's with a story we enjoy.

With Dragon Age Inquisition having come out and me played it, I've been feeling... nostalgic and inspired of an idea I had before I even thought of my Mass Effect story. I'm going to try and make a fanfic with Dragon Age: Origins. The story has captivated me almost as much as Mass Effect has. The only reason Mass Effect won out is... well you all can guess.

So from today until I finish it, the Ghost of the Terminus is hereby on Hiatus. Yea I'm hating myself right now too.


	32. Virmire Part 1

Recap: "Who is it?" Shepard asked. Last time he got a call from the Citadel, it was from Udina and Anderson. Udina was pissed about his decision to free the Rachni Queen, but Anderson had managed to calm the man down enough. When the Ambassador left, Anderson actually voiced his support in Shepard's decision. Shepard smiled at that.

"It's from the Council." Joker replied. Shepard got up and made his way to the comm room. Finally another lead on Saren!

* * *

Now

Shepard made his way into the comm room, ready to receive a new mission from the Council. He didn't wait long for their holograms to show up.

"Well, this is pleasant surprise." Shepard commented. The Councilors ignored it with Tevos speaking before Valern and Sparatus.

"Ghost. We've received information that may be critical to your mission against Saren." Tavs said. Shepard raised an eyebrow in interest. He finally had something to go on with Saren.

"What kind of information?" Shepard asked.

"We've received an urgent message from one of our regiments in the Traverse." Valery spoke.

"You mean spies." Shepard stated as he crossed his arms.

"Spectres tend to attract attention, Ghost. But they are only one arm of the Council. Special Task Groups are often a better option for monitoring developing situations." Tevos explained. Shepard's other eyebrow rose this time. Salarian STG, eh? This is going to be interesting. He never really dealt with them before or at least directly anyway. For all he knew he probably walked past a couple of them on Omega.

"We currently have several infiltration units scattered throughout the border regions of Citadel space." Shepard rolled his eyes in a yea-right expression. "This particular unit was gathering information on Saren." Shepard gained a serious look.

"What did they find?" There was a pause as if Valern was trying to think of way to say it correctly. Oh boy.

"Unfortunately, the message we received was little more than static. The infiltration team must be in a situation where they can't set up proper interstellar transmissions." Oh that's just perfect! That means that he and his team will be going in blind... Oh what the hell they've been doing that for awhile now.

"But it was sent on a channel reserved for mission-critical communications. Whatever they were trying to tell us, we know it was important. Considering your interest in Saren, we thought you might want to investigate this. Find out what happened to our team. The signal originated from the planet Virmire." Valern finished.

"I'll look into it." Shepard said as he uncrossed his arms. Then he smirked.

"You know I expected Aria to give information like this to me when I'm on a mission for her. Nice to see the Council will do the same from time to time." Shepard said absently.

"The Council prefers not to become involved in the specifics of Spectre activities. We only want you to be aware of all your options, including Virmire." Tevos replied. Shepard quirked an eyebrow at her as if to say, 'What other options?'

"Good luck, Ghost. We will keep you advised of if we learn anything else." Tevos finished before they cut off the connection.

"You catch all that, Joker?" Shepard asked aloud before turning from the comm console to the CIC.

"Yep. Want to head there now?" Joker asked.

"You know it." Shepard said as he messaged his team to prepare for the next mission.

* * *

The Normandy flew down to the tropical world of Virmire. Before heading to the hangar the group had taken a scan of the planet.

"Shepard, I'm reading a signal. Must be our salarian infiltration team." Joker said having caught the transmission. Everyone was looking at the scans they had taken of the ground.

"Look at those defense towers." Kaidan said gesturing to a couple of structures on the screen they were looking at. It showed several rock formations and rivers as well as the base itself.

"Yeah. Drop the Mako. We'll go in hot and take them out." Shepard said gesturing for everyone to go to hangar bay.

A few minutes later, everyone was inside the Mako and were ready to drop. As the Normandy's doors opened up, Joker spoke through the mako's comm.

"I'll get you in underneath their radar, Shepard." The doors finally opened up and the Mako zoomed out as the Normandy flew over.

"We've got a clean drop, Shepard." Joker said once they landed safely and without any geth attacking.

"Great. Stay out of range and continue evasive maneuvers until we bring those AA towers down." Shepard replied.

"I know the drill. Meet you at the camp once those towers are offline. Joker out." Shepard wasted no time driving toward the towers. The mako plowed through the waters at a fast pace before they came across several geth. First it was recon drones. Nothing a little machine gun action couldn't take care of. Then as they pushed further, they came across more troubling enemies, geth troops and armatures. Again, nothing a little machine gun action with a mix of rocket cannon firing couldn't take care of. There was one problem that did present difficulty however: Four Colossuses were in their way.

Taking on a Colossus would be easy in a mako for them now, but taking on four was tough. Shepard gunned the motor and sped toward one before knocking it down. He continued speeding until he hit the thrusters and landed on the second, pinning it on the ground. The mako's weapons turned to the other two Colossuses and fired continuously. A few minutes later the other Colossus had gotten back up while another had gone down. Both Colossuses fired at the same time forcing the Shepard to hit the thrusters. The mako landed on the pinned Colossus before firing again, this time destroying another Colossus and severely damaging the other. Shepard drove and ran over the damaged Colossus before speeding past it, allowing Ashley and Garrus to fire their weapons at it, before it exploded from the damage. The formerly pinned Colossus got back up only to be under fire from the mako. Before long, it to was finished. The mako drove passed the collapsed bodies and came to several small groups of geth on the shores each being protected by barricades of those hex shields. The cannon took care of those fast. After fighting them, Shepard allowed the mako to recharge its shields. During the 5 minutes of recharging, they heard what sounded like artillery blasts.

"I believe that is our target." Tali surmised causing everyone to nod. Shepard drove onward, following the sounds until they came to one of the AA towers. The AA tower was connected to a barricaded gatehouse which was closed off making any progress forward come to halt.

"There's the artillery keeping the Normandy at bay." Kaidan said as it came into sight. The mako's cannon fired at the geth on the ground but took fire from up top. Garrus pointed the cannon at the walkway and fired, forcing the geth to take cover. Everyone got out of the mako and stormed the area.

"That's a big gun. Hope we can take it out." Wrex commented firing his shotgun at a few geth.

"We must find a way to disable their artillery." Liara spoke as she used singularity on a geth trooper with her pistol firing. Garrus and Ashley had run up the stairs and began firing, taking out whatever geth were up there. Shepard followed closely while the rest dealt with the geth on the ground. That was when Garrus spotted something with his sniper.

"There's our target, Shepard." Garrus said firing from cover on the walkway pointing to a geth terminal down the hall that lead to a room carved into the rock formation the gatehouse was connected to. Shepard nodded having heard him and fired his assault rifle. The small mass accelerators bore through the geth fast as Shepard pushed on with little hesitance. Soon enough, the geth had been wiped out and the team made it to the AA controls. Inside they found two terminals. One was connected to the generator while the other had to be connected to the walls. Shepard hacked through the terminal and managed to cut the power from the generator. The AA gun immediately stopped firing.

"I'm reading that the grid is down Shepard. On approach to the salarian base now. Out." Joker radioed a few seconds after. Tali worked on the other terminal and soon everyone heard the doors unseal themselves.

"Ready to move out Skipper." Ashley said. Everyone moved back to the mako in a rush and once inside, drove forward only to be stopped by another barricaded gatehouse. The Normandy soared overhead as the geth fired on them. They quickly took care of the geth with Ashley being the one who got to the gatehouse terminal.

"There. Now we should have no trouble reaching the salarian camp." She said to Shepard who had come up behind her.

"Excellent." He said nodding. He turned around and began walking to the others with her following. From there on, it was smooth sailing to the camp. Shepard did notice as he looked on the horizon that a storm was brewing over the ocean. He wasn't much of a prophetic man himself, but there had been times in his life where he had seen certain things happen and couldn't help but feel as if there was something else at work that wasn't the work of his enemies or allies. A shiver went down his spine as thunder claps happened in the distance with accompanying lightning strikes. This was one of the times he felt it was an omen. Something bad was going to happen. He was shaken out of his reverie when Joker radioed them.

"Shepard, Normandy's touched down at the base, but it looks like we're grounded." Everyone looked at each other in confusion. If they made it, why were they grounded?

"Any reason why, Joker?" Shepard asked.

"The salarian captain can explain when you get here." Was all he said before the line cut. Shepard turned as the river turned until they came to the camp and right beside it was the Normandy.

"There's the camp." Wrex said as the camp came into view. It was along the shore up next to the facility wall and was composed of three tents. Shepard parked the mako next to the Normandy allowing the other crew members to take it back inside. Everyone came out it and proceeded to the camp, each on their guard. Shepard looked around the area before turning his attention to the base right beside the camp. How the hell had Saren and the Geth not noticed them here? Shepard then took note of the number of salarians and was baffled.

"Isaac?"

"Yes?"

"Is it my imagination, or shouldn't there be a few more salarians then this much for a unit?" Isaac took the time to go over how many were there.

"You're right. They should have at least twice maybe three times as more. These guys are greatly outnumbered." Shepard thought over the possible circumstances that might have caused this.

"Well, they had been using the emergency channel. It is possible that most of their men had been killed or captured." Shepard stated.

"You might be right. If so only two questions remain." Shepard looked at the wall again. "One kind of force are we dealing with in there and how are we going to stop it?"

Shepard spotted Ashley and Kaidan both talking with a salarian who was in white armor and red stripes, unlike the rest who had orange stripes.

'Must be the captain.' Shepard thought before walking over to the three. Isaac kept silent once he noticed Shepard was moving to the group. As he got closer, Shepard could here what was sounding like an argument.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" He heard Ashley ask the salarian.

"Stay put until we can come up with a plan." The salarian replied with authority. Definitely the captain or lieutenant.

"Are you in charge here? What's the situation?" Shepard asked causing the three of them to look at him.

"I'm Captain Kirrahe, Third Infiltration Regiment STG. You and your crew have just landed in the middle of a hotline. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence." Kirrahe said.

"That's just great. What are we supposed to do now?" Shepard said in annoyance as he face palmed himself. He hadn't though of other AA guns in the area.

"We stay put until the Council sends the reinforcements we requested." Kirrahe replied. It went silent for them for a few seconds until Kaidan broke it.

"We are the reinforcements." Kirrahe's eyes widened at the statement.

"What? You're all they sent? I told the Council to send a fleet." He said in mild dismay. Shepard shook his head no.

"We couldn't understand your transmission. They sent me here to investigate." Shepard replied making Kirrahe narrow his eyes in annoyance.

"That is a repetition of our task. I lost half my men investigating this place." Kirrahe said with some slight anger added in.

"So what have you found?" Kaidan asked. Kirrahe hesitated before answering.

"Saren's base of operations. He's set up a research facility here, but it's crawling with geth and very well fortified." Shepard's eyes widened at Saren's name.

"Is he here? Have you seen him?" Shepard asked.

"No, but his geth are everywhere, and we've intercepted some comms referring to Saren. This is his facility, there's no doubt about that." Kirrahe said making Shepard nod. They finally had a real solid lead on Saren now. But is the purpose of this facility of his anyway.

"What's Saren researching?" Shepard asked as his eyes went over to the facility wall.

"He's using the facility to breed an army of krogan." Everyone was stunned by the information. Shepard immediately began to think of what Saren could do with an army of krogan at his back. The most deadliest of ground soldiers at his beck and call. Sure the geth a great troops, he can attest to that with what he's seen them do. He's seen them bring two colonies to their knees, bring down Alliance forces with mild difficulty and hack through security systems as best as he and Tali could, but a krogan foot soldier would still be deadlier in the field. True, geth are synthetics but can they repair themselves while under fire? No, but a krogan could regenerate however. The geth have limitations which require them to take bigger bulkier bodies while krogan are already bred for such things.

The krogan had proven themselves time and time again as the deadliest of warriors. The Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions burned that into everyone's memory. That's what Saren was after. An invincible ground force combined with a deadly technological one. With those two at his command he had enough power to take the Citadel by force possibly.

"How is that possible?" Wrex's voice sounded out. Shepard broke out of his train of thought and noticed that Wrex had walked over after hearing what Kirrahe said. Shepard immediately noticed the unnerved look in Kirrahe's eye.

"Apparently, Saren has discovered a cure for the Genophage." Kirrahe said making Wrex's eyes widen.

"What's so bad about curing it?" Shepard asked. Wrex had told him once that if he wanted details about the genophage, he'd have to ask a salarian. Well, here they were.

"It was the solution to the krogan problem." Wrex said still in mild shock. Kirrahe nodded.

"We introduced the genophage to the krogan population after the uprising. To quell their numbers." Okay he figured that much. "Without it, the krogan will quickly overrun the galaxy. And these krogan follow Saren." So that was how it was. The reason they kept the genophage still going was because they feared another krogan uprising. Shepard looked at Wrex and he suddenly felt that shiver again. He realized now what it meant. He was about to face what might be one of the most difficult decisions he'd have to make.

"The geth are bad enough, but a krogan army... he'd almost be unstoppable. Kirrahe nodded once more.

"Exactly my thoughts. We must ensure this facility and its secrets are destroyed." Wrex's eyes narrowed and his upper lip vibrated as he growled.

"Destroyed? I don't think so. Our people are dying. This cure can save them." Wrex said keeping himself as calm as he could. Shepard watched him closely as Kirrahe sighed.

"If that cure leaves this planet, the krogan will become unstoppable. We can't make the same mistake again." Kirrahe replied. Wrex snarled at him got up close to his face, finger pointed at him. Kirrahe leaned back at how close Wrex was.

"We are not a mistake!" Wrex growled at him before walking away to the shore. Kirrahe relaxed. Shepard noticed the salarian's hand move away from his holstered pistol. Kirrahe watched Wrex leave before turning to Shepard.

"Is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry krogan to deal with." Kirrahe asked.

"He'll be fine. I'll talk to him." Shepard said.

"I'd appreciate that, Ghost. My men and I need to rethink our plan of attack. Can you give us some time?" Kirrahe asked. Shepard nodded.

"Go ahead, Captain. I"ll come back soon." Shepard replied.

"We won't be long, Ghost. In the meantime, if you need any supplies you can talk to Commander Rentola. He's in one of the tents nearby." With that Kirrahe left them to think. Shepard and Kaidan both turned toward Ashley who was thinking over things. Kaidan crossed his arms.

"Looks like things are a bit of a mess." He stated.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for Wrex. He looks like he's going to blow a gasket." Ashley said looking over at Wrex. A gunshot sounded making the other two to look at where it came from. Shepard calmed down when he noticed that Wrex was shooting into the water. He also noticed several salarians and crewmen kept their distance from him.

"You think I should go talk to him?" Shepard asked out loud before turning back to them. Ashley shrugged.

"It wouldn't hurt. Well, it might, actually. Just do it carefully." Ashley said with worry.

"I'll be careful, but be ready... just in case." Shepard said before walking to Wrex. He heard her say 'I'm always ready.' as he walked away. Shepard breathed out slowly, preparing himself for a fight. He got within 10 feet of him before Wrex spoke.

"This isn't right, Shepard. If there is a cure for the genophage, we can't destroy it." Wrex said before turning to him. Shepard knew there was still a chance that they could both walk out of this alive, and maybe...

" I understand you're upset, but we both know that Saren is the real enemy here. He's the one you should be angry with." Shepard replied as Wrex walked toward him shotgun still in his hand.

"Really? Saren created a cure for my people. You want to destroy it. Help me out here Shepard. The lines between friend and foe are getting a little blurry from where I stand." Wrex said in tone that made Shepard become extra cautious.

"This isn't a cure, it's a weapon. And if Saren is allowed to use it, you won't be around to reap the benefits. None of us will." Shepard said taking a step forward. Wrex took one step toward Shepard coming face to face.

"That's a chance we should be willing to take. This is the fate of my entire people we're talking about." Both stared each other down.

"I've been loyal to you so far. Hell, you did more for me than my family ever did. But if I'm going to keep following you..." Wrex took a step back and pulled out his shotgun before pointing it at him. Shepard did the same thing. Everyone was now extremely tense as they watched the human and krogan stare off down the barrels of their guns.

"I need to know we're doing it for the right reasons." And there it was. Shepard realized that this moment right here was a test for both him and Wrex. For Wrex it was test to see if Shepard would continue to be the leader he had been since the start of this. The leader who had always been fair and sympathetic to those unfortunate, but also stern and hard when he needed to be. For Shepard, it was time to see if Wrex, after all those talks they had about the krogan, would step into being the krogan who would guide his race into a better age or die in the sand.

"Wrex, these krogan are not your people. They're slaves of Saren. Tools. Is that what you want for them?" Shepard replied lowering his gun. He was going to show Wrex he trusted him and that he should trust him too. Wrex kept his gun pointed at him for a few seconds. Shepard could see Wrex muling over his words. Before long, he lowered his own gun.

"No. We were tools for the Council once. To thank us for wiping out the rachni, they neutered us all. I doubt Saren will be as generous." Wrex holstered his weapon making Shepard smile as he did his own.

"All right, Shepard. You've made your point. I don't like this, but I trust you enough to follow your lead. Just one thing. When we find Saren, I want his head." Wrex said before turning away. Shepard walked away from him and stood alone for a few seconds before...

"Your ability to calm the krogan is impressive." Liara spoke, walking up behind him.

"It wasn't easy." Shepard replied before asking, "Does your mother know anything about this place?" Liara shook her head no.

"I'm afraid he kept her away from here. She told me he spoke of it, but nothing beyond it being a facility that was researching on the krogan."

"So nothing we don't already know." Shepard said with a sigh. Liara was about to say something before four more entered the conversation.

"Nice work with Wrex. I didn't think anything would calm him down." Kaidan said as he approached.

"I still can't believe you were able to calm Wrex down." Garrus beside him.

"Yeah, nice job. He's totally changed his attitude." Ashley said coming up right beside Liara.

She's right. Wrex's mood has changed since you spoke with him." Tali said standing on Liara's other side. Shepard smiled at their praise before turning serious. He looked at the wall near them. Everyone noticed his gaze and followed it.

"This facility is well protected, it must be very important to Saren." Liara said making Garrus nod.

"With all these defenses, Saren must be hiding something big." He commented. Ashley looked at the salarians.

"I hope these salarians can fight." She said.

"These salarians seem pretty tough. I just hope they hold up under pressure." Kaidan replied looking somewhat doubtful.

"These salarians are some of the best-trained anywhere. We will need their help." Liara said with confidence.

"Normally, I wouldn't think much of salarians in a fire fight, but these soldiers do seem well trained." Garrus added.

"The upcoming battle frightens me, but I know Saren must be stopped. These salarians are willing to die to stop Saren... and so am I." Tali said. Shepard could see the resolve in her eyes. It made him smile.

"Taking the facility will not be easy, but I am sure we will succeed." Liara said to Tali.

"It won't be an easy fight, but we're ready when you are. " Ashley said turning to Shepard with a small smile..

"Whatever you need, Shepard I'm right behind you." Kaidan agreed. Everyone else nodded with the same thoughts in mind. Shepard smiled more at them until another voice added on to their's.

"Saren's base will be nothing but dust when I'm done. I'm going to tear this place a new one. I'm ready Shepard, just say the word." Wrex said coming up behind them. He had determined look none of them had seen on him before. Shepard's smile turned into a grin now.

"Okay then. Let's go see if Kirrahe has a plan." Shepard said before walking to the tent Kirrahe and several other salarian troops. Kirrahe noticed Shepard and walked toward him before stopping right in front of him.

"Thank you for speaking with the krogan. The assault on Saren's base will be difficult enough as it is." Kirrahe said. That got everyone's attention. An assault already?

"I assume that means you've come up with a plan." Shepard stated.

"Of sorts. We can convert our ship's drive system into a twenty-kiloton ordnance. Crude, but effective." Kirrahe explained.

"Nice. Drop that from orbit and Saren can kiss his turian ass goodbye." Ashley said. Shepard almost snorted. Nothing was that easy when a facility like this was involved. To prove his point Kirrahe spoke up.

"Unfortunately, the facility is too well-fortified for that. We'll need to place the bomb at a precise location."

"Where do we take the nuke? And how do we get it there?" Shepard asked.

"The bomb must be taken to the far side of the facility. Your ship can drop it off, but we'll need to infiltrate the base, disable the AA guns, and pacify any ground forces first."

"You want us to go on foot?" Kaidan asked incredulously. "We don't have enough men." Shepard thought it over.

"It does sound a bit risky. Is there no other way?" He asked.

"No, but I think we can work around that. I'm going to divide my men into three teams and hit the front of the facility. While we have their attention, you can sneak your 'shadow' team in the back." Kirrahe explained. That sounded like a good plan but there was one problem.

"It's a good idea, but your people are going to get slaughtered." Shepard replied.

"We're tougher than we look, Ghost." Shepard gave him a blank stare that said 'please'. "But it's true. I don't expect many of us will make it out alive. And that makes what I'm going to ask even more difficult." Shepard had that bad feeling crawling up his spine again and this time he had an idea of what Kirrahe was going to ask.

"I need one of your men to accompany me. To help coordinate the teams." Shepard's eyes narrowed making Kirrahe actually more nervous than he was with Wrex. He had heard about Ghost and how he had been able to elude STG teams in the past and he even heard at one point Ghost had fought an STG agent, but no one knew if that was true or not. Before Shepard could say anything to him, however...

"I volunteer, Shepard." Shepard looked over his shoulder at Kaidan. He almost glared at him before someone else cut in.

"Not so fast, LT. Shepard will need you to arm the nuke." Exactly. Ashley understood him. "I'll go with the salarians." Scratch that. She didn't get him at all.

"With all due respect Gunnery Chief, it's not your place to decide." Kaidan replied back with an authoritative tone. Ooohhh. He had to bring up rank at this time. Shepard knew that those two had different views on things, but damn. Ashley looked at Shepard.

"Why is it that whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean 'kiss my ass?' She asked. Shepard groaned at the two of them. He knew he was going to regret this.

"Who would be better suited for the mission?" He asked Kirrahe.

"Either of these two will do, Ghost. Both seem willing to sacrifice their lives if necessary, though if we are lucky, such sacrifices won't be required." Shepard thought long and hard about it. Both Ashley and Kaidan were good on the battle field had decent leadership skills. Ashley would be able to jump into combat just as fast a Kaidan would be. Kaidan would have to be on the defensive and support role which could help the group as a whole, but there is still the off chance of something sneaking up on him while he's concentrating. Not only that, but Ashley did have a point. If Kaidan were out there, Ashley would be dealing with the bomb. She was decent enough when it came to explosives, but Kaidan had a better understanding of the tech itself. Plus it could slow down the bomb's efficiency by the smallest nanosecond. Shepard sighed as he made his decision.

"Williams, you'll accompany the Captain. No heroics, understood?" Shepard said looking at her over his shoulder. She nodded.

"Aye, aye, Skipper!" She replied. Shepard turned to Kirrahe.

"I will have the ordinance loaded onto the Normandy and brief your crew on its detonation sequencing. Do you have any questions before we go, Ghost?" Kirrahe asked. Shepard shook his head no.

"I'm ready when you are, Captain."

"Excellent. Then if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare my men." Kirrahe walked off to gather his men while Shepard turned to Kaidan and Ashley.

"Well, this is it. Don't do anything foolish while I'm gone, LT. That goes for you too, Skipper." Ashley said. Shepard could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"We'll be fine, Ash." Kaidan replied with an uneasy smile. Shepard could tell that the reality had set in on them. All they mission they had been on since the start of this crazy adventure, they had been together and now... two of them were going to do something alone.

"Yeah, I just... good luck." Ashley said."

"Is there something you wanted to say, Chief?" Shepard asked thinking she might need to vent.

"I don't know... It's just weird, going under someone else's command. I've got so used to working with you..." Her eyes gazed over to the others who were chatting away before moving to the ground. "All of you."

"Don't worry so much. We'll see you on the other side." Kaidan said comfortingly. Ashley looked up at him covering up any worry she might have let them seen.

"I know. I, ah... it's been an honor serving with you, Skipper." Ashley said looking at him with a... loving look. It was that same look he'd Liselle giving him from time to time when she thought he wasn't looking.

"It doesn't matter if we aren't in the same group, we're still a team. Watch each other's backs, keep your eyes open and fight like I know you can. We'll come out of this in one piece." Shepard said giving them an appraising look. They both smiled at him.

"You bet, Skipper." She said. Kaidan walked over to where the bomb squad was. Ashley was about to walk towards Kirrahe's group before Shepard called out.

"Ash." She turned around and saw Shepard raise an arm to her, hand extended out. She smiled sadly before walking over and grabbing his hand. They shook, but when she tried to let go she found Shepard still gripping her hand firmly, but also gently. He suddenly pulled her closer and hugged her. Ashley was shocked by his sudden embrace, but quickly returned it.

"Be careful." He whispered into her ear. She smirked.

"Kaidan doesn't get a hug?" She asked jokingly.

"He's not the one going into a fire fight with three salarian teams." Shepard replied before letting her go. He nodded to her which she returned before walking away. Shepard felt his heart drop for a split second.

* * *

An hour later...

* * *

After hearing Kirrahe give his Hold the Line speech to his men, Shepard and all the nonhuman squad members were in position at the far side of the facility.

"Comm check. Do you read me Ghost?" Kirrahe's voice radioed out. Shepard winced at the volume before turning it down just a bit.

"Loud and clear."

"Good. We'll start our push. We'll try to make it to the AA guns, but it might be up to you to finish the job." Shepard nodded before walking forward.

"And Ghost?" Shepard stopped. "If you see any way to undermine their defenses, we could definitely use the help."

"Understood." Shepard walked ahead with his group following.

"Garrus, Tali, Liara . I want you to scout ahead and see what kind of resistance we could be facing."

"Right Shepard." Garrus replied before moving further up ahead with Tali and Liara following. Once they were far enough Shepard motioned Wrex to come closer to him. The krogan did so wondering what Shepard was up to. Once he was right beside him Shepard spoke.

"What do you think about me swiping the cure?" Shepard asked nonchalantly. Wrex looked at him with a critical eye before grinning.

"I'd say if you did that, I'd follow you into any battle." Shepard smirked.

"Fine by me." Shepard picked up the pace. Wrex kept up with him.

"If you were a krogan, I'd place you as Chief of Chiefs." Shepard continued to smirk.

"I'm flattered but sadly I'm not." His smirk vanished. "Wrex listen, the reason why we had those talks and things ended up like this is because I've been trying to get you to get back into the krogan Chiefdom." Wrex looked ahead.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I will say this: The krogan need a leader who will guide them toward a better way of life. One different from one they've been living since the Rebellions. You already know of the leader I speak of. You have but one question to answer now: Who is it going to be?" Shepard said before they noticed they were catching up to the other three. Wrex looked at Shepard for a moment before thinking over what he said. He found that Shepard was right. The krogan were dying. A once proud people rotting away. And the terrible part was it wasn't just because of the Council. The Council may have beaten the krogan down, but the krogan haven't bothered to get back up. Shepard was right, they need someone to guide them into a better way. After this Saren business is over... he'll step back in.

"Shadow is on the ground. Repeat: Shadow is on the ground. Chief Williams, with Aegohr team! Mannovai, Jaeto teams, move! Time to get some attention!"

They came to a watchtower of sorts. Heading towards the tower, they noticed its unfriendly inhabitants: Geth Troopers, Geth Rocket Troopers, and Geth Shock Troopers. Not only that but there was also a Geth Sniper and a Destroyer present as well. The Geth greeted them with a hail of gunfire forcing them to use the nearby rocks for cover. The geth also deployed a few smaller hex shields on the upper level, providing them additional protection. Shepard was pinned down by sniper fire almost immediately.

"Mannovai is under coordinated crossfire. Check for long-range turrets helping the geth target!" He heard Ashley say over the radio followed by gunfire in the background.

"Garrus! Think you could get this sniper off me!?" Shepard shouted over the gunfire. Garrus took out his Volkov sniper rifle and aimed at the geth sniper. Shepard glanced over his cover before ducking down immediately, barely missed by the sniper shot. Garrus had the sniper in his sights and fired. The sniper ducked behind a shield which took the hit instead. Shepard got up and fired his assault rifle at the balcony which the geth were on. The shots fired damaged or destroyed most of the shields but a few rockets had forced Shepard to take cover. Before he did, he noticed the Destroyer coming down the ramp that led to the balcony.

"Tali! Hack the Destroyer!" He shouted which Tali did. She sent the destroyer back up the ramp and immediately start shooting the geth. Everyone ran after it while the geth were distracted. As soon as they were up, the destroyer was down. Liara and Shepard used singularity on them while everyone else fired.

"I wonder why the geth were guarding this outpost?" Liara asked aloud.

"Yes, they seemed pretty determined to keep it." Garrus said looking around. He noticed a console nearby.

"Shepard, check this out." He motioned toward the console. Everyone came to it before Tali walked up and hacked it.

"What is it for Tali?" Shepard asked. Tali kept typing on it before saying, "It appears to be a Triangulation Tower."

"Mess with that and their communications would be messed up." Wrex said with a grin. Shepard nodded.

"Do it." He ordered. Tali began typing away before, "Geth communications disrupted."

"Good, that may help Kirrahe and his teams." Shepard said before walking down the ramp and went under the tower, finding a way forward. Everyone took out their preferred weapon and moved ahead. Kirrahe's voice sounded out over the radio.

"Something scrambled their targeting. We've got a shot! Chief Williams, take the heat of Mannovai!" Sounds like messing with the tower helped. They trudged onward coming up against only a scant few troopers which were easily taken out. Then Shepard felt an electric presence from above and fired at the rocket drones.

"They're calling sat-strikes! Jaeto, watch for comm stations! Williams, can you see anything?" Kirrahe voiced over. Guess that meant they were facing more than they were. Time to see if they could find something to help on their side. They moved ahead to find another tower. There was less resistance then the first since there was only a geth destroyer and a krogan.

The Destroyer charged at Shepard who made a power strike and shoved it into its chest, ripping it to pieces. The krogan charged at him next but it was intercepted by Wrex who tackled him to the ground and began beating him to death with his shotgun until he finished him off with a blast to the face. Shepard looked around for anything that could help Kirrahe's situation and noticed something on top of the tower. A satellite uplink.

'Sat-strikes!' Shepard realized before throwing a grenade at it. It stuck to it and Shepard detonated it. They moved passed it quickly, walking down the walkway that led further in towards the facility. Destroying that had to have left the geth defenses in disarray.

"Aircraft heading to perimeter stations to recharge. Bunker up before they come back!" Ashley's voice came over the radio. How many more defenses do these geth have? Oh well, if they run into them, they'll take care of it. They came to a t-junction that branched off in three directions.

"Wrex and Tali, take the one on the right. Liara and Garrus take, the left. I'll take one ahead." Shepard said. Garrus looked up where Shepard was going.

"Looks like the perfect place for a sniper." He commented.

"Exactly." Shepard said before switching to his Master HMWSR and walking forward. The others separated into their teams and ran in the directions they were supposed to go.

* * *

With Shepard

* * *

Shepard crouched and looked over to see if there were any enemies that he could see. Hmmm, only two krogan and three rocket troopers. Shepard fired at the geth and managed to kill the three of them before he had wait for his sniper rifle to cool down. He then saw the krogan looking for him. He shot one of them twice before he died and the other got shot once before Shepard had to wait. The krogan tried to leave the area seeing how he was outmatched at the moment, but Shepard wouldn't let him. With the aim of a master marksman, Shepard fired his sniper twice and killed the krogan. With that he left the area to go help his team. As he got to the t-junction he could sense two signatures. A single biotic signature to his right and one biotic signature with several electric signatures around it to his left. He followed after the one to his left.

* * *

With Liara and Garrus

* * *

The two had ran the way Shepard told them too but were met by two krogan who wasted no time attacking them. Liara used lift on the two before Garrus fired at them with his Breaker assault rifle. Once they were dead, they both walked down the ramp and onto the ground before being ambushed by a geth destroyer. Garrus used on overload on it causing its gun to overheat and its shields to be depleted. The geth swung its arm and knocked Garrus away before advancing on Liara. The asari used throw on it sending it back. She unholstered her pistol and fired at it and used warp. The throw ran out and the destroyer was only mildly damaged. It got back and grabbed its pulse rifle before aiming it at her. She used barrier hoping that the rounds wouldn't penetrate it. However, a grenade latched itself onto the destroyer before exploding. Liara turned and saw Garrus had gotten back up. He walked over to her and saw that the destroyer was dead.

"You all right?" He asked.

"Yes, just startled. What about you? That geth actually knocked you off the ground."

"Nothing I can't handle. Come on. We need to get to the facility and meet with the others."

"Right." With that they both walked ahead to the facility on the ground without much resistance after that.

* * *

With Tali and Wrex

* * *

Wrex and Tali passed by the area where they could see the facility entrance. They could hear Shepard sniping the guards from his cover. They came to another area where they heard a type of whirring sound. Wrex and Tali hug the wall and moved closer to the corner.

"Geth flyers. Looks like they're stuck refueling." Wrex said looking over the edge.

"Didn't Ashley mention them? We should disable them before they can return to attack the other teams." Tali said. Wrex nodded and jumped out of cover, firing at the fuel tanks. They exploded from the attack and managed to damage the drones before they began firing at him. Tali used overload and caught 3 of the flyers in it taking out their shields fully before she fired on them. Wrex used warp on one while shooting another. Eventually, they destroyed them. Wrex noticed his shields had been depleted by 60% before they began replenishing at a fast rate. He had to admit, Shepard definitely picked the best armor and weapon upgrades. He looked at Tali who was panting a little.

"You okay, Tali?" The Quarian nodded.

"I'm fine. Just a little excited is all." Wrex grinned at her. She was finally enjoying a fight.

"We should get going." She said walking towards the facility. Wrex followed after her.

* * *

**SURPRISE! What do you think?**


	33. Virmire Part 2: The real enemy

**Double ****Surprise! Check the last chapter if you haven't.**

* * *

Recap: "We should get going." She said walking towards the facility. Wrex followed after her.

* * *

Back with Shepard

* * *

Shepard had made it to the t-junction that led to the facility and where Tali and Wrex were before he felt the electric signatures go out. Only the biotic and a lone electric signature remained.

'Seems they didn't need help after all.' Shepard thought before walking towards the facility.

"Air help has not materialized! We may be getting some help from Shadow." Kirrahe voiced over the radio. Shepard 'awed' in understanding. That's what those were. Geth Flyers. Destroying those will give Kirrahe's team an easier time. He made it to the final t-junction where he met up with Wrex and Tali.

"Nice work taking out the flyers, you two." Shepard said as he got out his Master HMWA. They nodded.

"Yea, it was pretty easy." Wrex replied. Shepard smirked at him before walking ahead. They got to the door before Liara and Garrus came up behind them.

"What took ya?" Wrex asked.

"The path Shepard told us to go on turned out to be one big circle." Liara said. Garrus nodded.

"Yes, we ended up going further back than where we started." Garrus said.

"Sorry guys." Shepard replied. They just waved it off as if to say it was fine.

"Shadow team must be getting close. Hold the line, men! Hold the line!" Kirrahe voiced over reminding them not to waste any time. They walked through the door and came to an area that lead to a three doors, each having a security console.

"Tali." Shepard gestured to the console.

"I'm on it." She said walking up to the console and began typing on it. After a minute of waiting she started talking.

"We've got access to base security. We can put cut the alarms from here. Maybe even trigger alarms on the far side of the base. It'll clear the guards out for use, but they might be too much for the salarian teams to handle." Shepard didn't hesitate.

"Just disable the alarms. We can handle any guards inside." Tali typed and the doors red lights turned green. With this they've taken some heat off Kirrahe's team. Their task should be much easier now. They walked in and were met more geth, but were surprised when salarians started attacking them as well. After killing them they all moved on.

"Salarians? The captain mentioned he had lost some men. It appears to be more indoctrination at work. I am beginning to wonder about the purpose of this place." Liara said.

"Maybe this place is where Saren is using indoctrination to build his army?" Garrus suggested.

"Possible, but we'll need to see more of this place first to find out." Shepard replied walking up the stairs before being attacked by a geth juggernaut. The entire team concentrated all their fire on it before it fell to the ground, riddled with holes. They continued through halls before passing some cages underneath.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" A voice spoke from below. That sounded like a salarian voice! Shepard looked at the cages and noticed salarian silhouettes inside. They had to find a way down. Moving into the next room, they were attacked by two more salarians who were easily dealt with.

"Give a little ground Williams. We don't want them to bunker-up. Draw them out." Kirrahe said. Sound like things were going over well with them. They walked through a door that led down towards the previous they had been in. Walking inside, Shepard saw that one cage held one salarian while the other held multiple ones.

"Well, you're not a get and you're not wearing lab coats. I guess I'm glad to see you." The lone salarian said as they walked up to his cell. "Lieutenant Ganto Imness of the Third Infiltration Regiment, captured during recon. I assume the fleet was called in to destroy the base?" Ganto asked.

"The transmission wasn't clear. The fleets not coming." Shepard replied.

"I see. Then you must be the infiltration team. I know the captain. He will want this facility destroyed. My team is altered, indoctrinated." Ganto said looking over to the next cell. "He knew about the breeding grounds. But the indoctrination is a greater threat, and far more terrifying."

"The ability to bend the minds of others." Shepard said making the salarian commando look back at him.

"I watched good people reduced to mindless husks. There wasn't anything left. Others died during the experiments. I envy them." Shepard glanced at the salarians in the next over before looking back at Ganto.

'What was Saren researching exactly?" Shepard asked.

"He was studying the indoctrination itself. Symptoms, side effects, everything. I'm not sure he even fully understands it." Shepard thought it over. The more and more he heard this, the more and more he believed that Saren was a puppet, but where did he find this power?

"I don't know much else. I just saw what it did to the others. Turned them into empty husks. I can't end up like that. Please- let me out!" Ganto begged. Shepard focused on realized by now that even though he wasn't in that form of his head still hear whispers. They were very low, barely recognizable almost needing to strain just to catch it, but it was there. He could hear it on the other salarians, but not on Ganto.

"I'm opening your cell, but then you're on your own." Shepard unlocked the door.

"Don't look back and hope to outrun the blast, hmm? A better chance than I had before you showed up." The door opened. "Thank you human and good luck. You'll need it." Ganto ran out of the room. The group walked to the next cell.

"These are docile. There minds are gone." Garrus said.

"This is no way to treat a prisoner. Kill the, sure, but to leave them like this..." Wrex said looking at them in a rare moment of pity.

"Open the doors. Give them a chance to outrun the blast." Shepard ordered.

"Are you sure Shepard? At best they might hurt themselves. If there is any sense left in them, they might be directed to harm us." Garrus said looking at the cell. Shepard looked at them and could hear the whispers, but there was no threat from the salarians. Nothing.

"Let them out. They won't hurt us." Shepard said. Garrus unlocked the door and it opened. Nothing happened. The salarians just stared at them as if the nothing had happened. The group slowly walked away and back up the way they came. They got near the elevator and entered it before going down. Once it stopped, they exited it to find themselves in a lab. Shepard took note of the husks that were being analyzed.

"Intruders! Get the guards!" A nearby scientist yelled out. The scanners stopped, releasing the husks. The husks ran at them. Shepard took out his Master HMWSG and began firing, followed by the rest. The scientist picked up a pistol and began firing at them. Shepard used his omni-arrows on the scientist, killing her. Once the husks were dead, they heard a krogan voice.

"What is going here? Where are the guards? Where is Saren?" Shepard looked and saw a krogan clad in white. He looked at Wrex.

"What do you know? A krogan scientist." He said with a grin making Wrex shrug. The krogan saw them and took out a pistol. Everyone pointed their weapons at him.

"No! Stay back! This is important work! This is the glorious salvation of my species!" The krogan roared before firing. Everyone shot at him and by the end of it, he was in pieces by how many times he was shot.

"Oh keelah." Tali said looking like she was going to hurl. Liara looked away as did Garrus. Wrex looked at Shepard who kept walking around until he found their main database. He immediately began hacking it with Isaac breaking down the firewalls.

"Shepard what are you doing?" Garrus asked having noticed him. Everyone else turned their attention to him.

"Trying to shed some light on what they found out. You remember what Lieutenant Ganto said. The indoctrination is the greater threat and personally, I couldn't agree more. Control the right person or people, and you can cause as much damage as any krogan army." Shepard said until it was done. Isaac was in and was already downloading any and necessary files.

"This'll take a minute. Go scope things out ahead." Shepard ordered.

"I'll stay here in case someone decides to come through the elevator we took." Wrex stated. The other three nodded and ran out the door to see what was next. Once the door closed on them Wrex walked up to Shepard.

"Did you find it?" Shepard's omni-tool beeped and stopped downloading.

"Yes. I'll analyze it on the Normandy to make sure it really is a cure. I get the feeling that it is more than that, considering." Shepard replied making Wrex nod. They left the lab and moved to where the others were. Once they caught up with them, they noticed the two destroyed geth.

"We were hoping you'd catch up." Garrus said.

"Sorry, it was a lot of data to go through. So we ready to keep moving?" Everyone nodded. They opened the door and when they entered the room, there was an asari hiding behind a desk. As soon as they got closer she got up and held her hands up.

"Don't shoot! Please, I just want to get out of here before it's too late." The asari said.

I'm not going to hurt you. Who are you?" Shepard questioned calmly, holstering his weapons. The rest of his team did a few seconds after him.

"Rana Thanoptis, neurospecialist. But this job isn't worth dying over, or worse." At Shepard's questioning glance she continued, "You think the indoctrination only affects prisoners? Sooner or later, Saren will want to dissect my brain, too!" That made him more confused.

"I thought this was a breeding facility." He stated back. Rana shook her head.

"Not this level. We're studying Sovereign's effect on organic minds. At least, that's what I assumed. Saren kept us in the dark as much as possible."

"You helped him and you didn't even know why?" Tali asked skeptically.

"I didn't have the option of negotiating. This position is a little more... permanent than I'd expected. But I can help you." She pointed to the elevator behind her. "This elevator goes to Saren's private lab. I can get you in." She walked to the elevator and swiped her card. The red light changed green as the console beeped in recognition of her ID.

"See? Full access. All of Saren's private files. Are we good? Can I go?" She asked walking back them. Shepard decided ask her one thing before he decided on letting her go or not.

"What were you studying?" He asked.

"We were studying Saren's ship, Sovereign. It emits some kind of signal. It's almost unnoticeable but it's there. It's called indoctrination. Direct exposure to the signal turns you into a mindless slave, like the salarian test subjects. But there's collateral damage, too." Shepard wondered what she meant by collateral damage.

"What do you mean by collateral damage?"

"Sovereign's signal is too strong. Spend too much time near the ship and you feel it. Like tingle at the back of the skull. It's like a whisper you can't quite hear. You're compelled to do things, but you don't know why. You just obey. Eventually, you just stop thinking for yourself. It happens to everyone at the facility. My first test subject was the man I replaced. Now I just want to get out of here before it happens to me." So that's what those whispers were. Then that means that whoever hears the whispering is in the presence of indoctrination itself, but if he could hear it why wasn't he compelled to do things?

"Tell me more about this signal." He ordered.

"Signal's not exactly the right word. There's some kind of energy field emanating from the ship. It changes though patterns. Over time- days, maybe a week- it weakens your will. You become easier to manipulate and control. But it's a degenerative condition. There's a glance between control and usefulness. The less freedom a subject maintains, the less capable it becomes." So basically the more controlled, the less useful it becomes. The less controlled, the more useful.

"Why is Saren is researching it? Isn't he the one controlling it?" Now was the time to see if he was right or wrong about Saren being the puppet.

"The signal comes form the ship. It makes us obey Saren, but I don't think he controls it. Not exactly. I think... he's scared that it might be affecting him. Indoctrination is subtle. By the time the effects become noticeable, it's usually too late." Shepard almost winced. So he had been right after all. Saren was another puppet. And Sovereign, the Reaper ship, was the master. A mere vessel still following its master's will for millennia caused all of this.

"I'm going to blow this place to hell and gone. If you want to make it out alive, you'd better start running."

"What? You can't... but I'll never...ahh!" Shepard moved aside as she ran out as fast as she could.

"I like the way you think Shepard." Wrex said as she ran out. They opened exited the room, moved across the walkway and came to an elevator. They entered and ascended higher into the facility until they came to Saren's private lab. They looked around and Shepard saw something familiar that caught both his and Liara's attention. An activated, intact prothean beacon. Shepard immediately walked forward to it and stopped just a few feet from it. He remembered when Ashley had gotten too close and it pulled her in. He also remembered the last it burned a vision into his head and how painful it was. But this time, he was ready. He had the Cipher this time. He walked up cautiously and stuck his hands out feeling for the pull. There was a beep and he felt a familiar force grab him and lift him up. The images came just like last time, but they didn't hurt and he could understand them better. Of death, of genocide. People where running from something, they were strange, had four eyes and mushroom-like shaped heads. Then he saw metal being welded to flesh. He could hear the screams of pain, horror and despair. A huge machine was present to see all of this. The machine that made them run away. The planet.

His eyes widened and the force left him. He fell to his knees, nearly gasping for breathe. He could hear the gunshots outside from the fight between the salarian teams and the geth. He got up unsteadily for a few seconds before righting himself. He stared at the beacon warily once more before turning around to face his team.

"Are you alright Shepard?" Liara asked with worry. He nodded.

"I'm fine. It wasn't like last time when I got knocked out. I actually understood it better. Let's get the hell out of here and nuke this place." He said before walking up the ramp. He noticed something red appear out of the corner of his eye. He walked to it followed by everyone else. The red took the form of a hologram of Sovereign.

"I get the feeling that something bad is about to happen." Wrex said. Just as Shepard stopped in front of it, a deep, robotic voice sounded out.

"YOU ARE NOT SAREN." As the voice spoke the hologram lit up with each word.

"I can't agree more with you Wrex." Garrus replied.

"What is that? Some kind of VI interface.?" Tali asked.

"RUDIMENTARY CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH. YOU TOUCH MY MIND, FUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING.

"I don't think that is a VI" Liara said to Tali who nodded in agreement with her.

"THERE IS A REALM OF EXISTENCE SO FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT. I AM BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION. I AM SOVEREIGN!" The revealed AI spoke. Shepard's eyes widened. It all made sense now. Who else would follow the Reaper's will? How else could it enslave minds to follow its goals? How else could Saren have known about the Thorian's existence on Feros without accessing Exo-Geni? Why else would the geth follow Saren? Because of their so-called god being right beside him.

"Sovereign isn't just some Reaper ship Saren found. It's an actual Reaper!" Shepard said tensely, realization sinking in to him.

"REAPER? A LABEL CREATED BY THE PROTHEANS TO GIVE VOICE TO THEIR DESTRUCTION. IN THE END, WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO CALL US IS IRRELEVANT. WE SIMPLY ARE."

"The Protheans vanished 50,000 years ago. You couldn't have been there. It's impossible!" Liara voiced out in denial. Shepard merely closed his eyes in acceptance. It was possible for an AI. Even more so for one as advanced as the Reapers.

"ORGANIC LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A GENETIC MUTATION, AN ACCIDENT. YOUR LIVES ARE MEASURED IN YEARS AND DECADES. YOU WITHER AND DIE. WE ARE ETERNAL. THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION AND EXISTENCE. BEFORE US, YOU ARE NOTHING. YOUR EXTINCTION IS INEVITABLE. WE ARE THE END OF EVERYTHING." Sovereign rebuked.

"There is an entire galaxy of races united and ready to face you." Shepard shot back.

"CONFIDENCE BORN OF IGNORANCE. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN."

"Cycle? What cycle?" Tali asked. Everyone wanted to know the answer to that too. Then Shepard remembered when they picked Liara up. She spoke of a cycle of destruction. About how the protheans weren't the first. How each time a great civilization rises it is violently and suddenly cast down. The Reapers were the cause of this cycle of extinction.

"THE PATTERN HAS REPEATED ITSELF MORE TIMES THAN YOU CAN FATHOM. ORGANIC CIVILIZATIONS RISE, EVOLVE, ADVANCE. AND AT THE APEX OF THEIR GLORY, THEY ARE EXTINGUISHED. THE PROTHEANS ARE NOT THE FIRST. THEY DID NOT CREATE THE CITADEL. THEY DID NOT FORGE THE MASS RELAYS. THEY MERELY FOUND THEM, THE LEGACY OF MY KIND." Sovereign answered. Something didn't add up. If they are such an advanced race, why create the mass relays and leave? Unless... they wanted them to be found!

"Why would you construct the mass relays, then leave them for someone else to find?" Shepard asked.

"YOUR CIVILIZATION IS BUILT UPON THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE MASS RELAYS, OUR TECHNOLOGY. BY USING IT, YOUR SOCIETY DEVELOPS ALONG THE PATHS ALONG THE PATHS WE DESIRE." So that was the game all along. Make the civilization rise and advance to a certain point before swooping in and cutting them down before they become too powerful.

"WE IMPOSE ORDER ON THE CHAOS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. YOU EXIST BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT. AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT."

"They are harvesting us! Letting us advance to level they need, then wiping us out!" Liara gasped out in horrified realization making the others widen their eyes.

"Where did you come from? Who built you?" Shepard asked.

"WE HAVE NO BEGINNING. WE HAVE NO END. WE ARE INFINITE. MILLIONS OF YEARS AFTER YOUR CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN ERADICATED AND FORGOTTEN, WE WILL ENDURE." Shepard scowled at the hologram.

"You have a beginning. And everything that has a beginning, has an end. What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?"

"MY KIND TRANSCENDS YOUR VERY UNDERSTANDING. WE ARE EACH A NATION. INDEPENDENT, FREE OF ALL WEAKNESS. YOU CANNOT EVEN GRASP THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE."

"Where are the rest of the Reapers? Are you last of your kind?"

"WE ARE LEGION. THE TIME OF OUR RETURN IS COMING. OUR NUMBERS WILL DARKEN THE SKY OF EVERY WORLD. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR DOOM." Shepard took one step toward the hologram and gave it his coldest glare ever. His team shivering escaped his notice.

"You're nothing but a monster, clad in the body of a machine. And machines can be broken!" He snarled. The ancient AI stared at him, processing his being and words. This one was different from the rest. It was irrelevant, however. A unique organic was still just that, an organic. He will be broken before the time comes for the rest to return. But still, he is an impressive organic. A possible replacement for Saren.

"YOUR WORDS ARE AS EMPTY AS YOUR FUTURE. I AM THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER." Sovereign's hologram disappeared. Without any warning, all the windows in the room exploded and fire could be seen outside.

"Shepard? We got trouble!" Shepard heard Joker over the radio.

"Hit me, Joker." Shepard said putting his hand to his comm.

"That ship, Sovereign? It's moving. I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half. It's coming your way and it's coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there - fast!"

"This console is no longer functioning. Ideas, Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"We'll head to the breeding facility. Time to blow this place to hell." Shepard said motioning everyone to the elevator.

"Right. We'll met you there Shepard." Joker radioed. They took the elevator back down and walked to the walkway. A geth destroyer greeted them but Shepard was in no mood for it. He used overload on it and followed it up with a weak power strike. The destroyer was damaged beyond functionality.

"The geth are turning from your position, Jaeto. Looks like Shadow kicked a sensitive spot! Williams, head them off! Hold them here!" They heard Kirrahe shout over the comm. He was still alive so that meant the salarians were doing well. They ran through the security office and saw a walkway they hadn't noticed before. Running to it, they noticed three krogan waiting for them. Shepard and Garrus both took out their sniper rifles and shot one to death. Tali overloaded the second's shields while Liara biotically threw him off the walk way. Wrex charged at the third and knocked him off his feet. He finished him off with carnage shots. With those three dead they continued on through the tunnel and came to a few platforms that led them to the AA tower.

"That turret could punch some nasty holes in the Normandy." Wrex commented. Everyone agreed with him seeing the size of it. They walked forward only to run into a krogan and two geth hoppers. Wrex fired at the krogan coming to his level and used warp on him, but he didn't go down. The geth hoppers attacked the other four. Shepard had his pistol out and tried to shoot the hopper but it was too quick. He let adrenaline rush through his veins and the hopper seemed to slow down until it landed on the side of the wall. Shepard aimed but then he noticed its color. It was not the usual white but it was pitch black.

'Shit! A geth ghost!' Shepard thought before firing. The geth ghost had him targeted and fired. The hit went through his shields and grazed him as he jumped for cover. Some of the rounds hit the geth ghost in its leg making it only half as fast. Garrus quick scoped it once it landed after jumping from its previous spot. Tali merely had to hack the other hopper which she commanded to leap onto the krogan fighting Wrex. The krogan was surprised when the geth hopper leapt onto him and began shooting at him at pointblank range. He waved his arms around trying to reach the geth and began to stumble until he hit the rail and went over the edge, impaling himself and the geth on a sharp rock.

Shepard got out of his cover holding his side before applying medi-gel.

"The geth ghost get you?" Garrus asked.

"Managed to graze but nothing I can't heal from." He looked at the AA gun. "Let's go deactivate that tower." They walked to the tower before jumping for cover from rockets. Rocket drones had descended upon them. Shepard took out his assault rifle and fired at the two of them as Liara used stasis on them. They exploded soon after a few shots. Coming up to the tower they immediately noticed the console. Tali ran up to it and immediately deactivated the turret. They heard the elevator turn on begin working its way up to their level.

"Watch out! They have followed us up the elevator." Liara said taking out her karpov pistol. Wrex and Garrus took out their assault rifles while Tali took out her sokolov shotgun. Shepard held assault rifle out. Once the elevator stopped, it opened to reveal three geth troopers. They immediately fired on them before the geth could even get a single shot. Once the geth were dead, they the elevator down. As they descended Kirrahe radioed to them.

"Good work on the gun, Shadow team. Now it's our turn." They made it to the level they needed to be on and walked through the hall. Before they made it out of the hall they overhead Captain Kirrahe's voice through the comm.

"That's it. We need to clear the geth and set those charges." In the background they could hear gunfire. They opened the door to find tubes of some sort in a water room and two more geth hoppers which were stopped by both Liara and Wrex who lifted them and shot them down. Shepard looked at the tubes and couldn't help but be curious. He walked up to it and moved of some condensation that had gathered on the glass. His eyes narrowed seeing what was inside. An adolescent krogan.

"Looks like these are the breeding grounds." Shepard said aloud before hopping off it.

"charges set! Everyone bunker down! Bunker down!" They heard through the comm.

"We should hurry." Tali suggested.

"Yeah wouldn't want to miss all the fun now, do we?" Wrex said. Shepard nodded and continued on with them. The door opened and revealed a large empty space. They walked into the area and checked over every place that could hide something and found nothing. Looks like the rest had gone after Captain Kirrahe's group.

"Joker, the landing site is clear." Shepard informed through the comm. Joker's excited voice answered back fast.

"All right! Nice work. That's one less thing to worry about. Shepard, I'm bringing us in. I'll get as close to sight as I can." Within a few moments the Normandy was already in sight above them as she pulled in. Her bay doors opened up and Kaidan, along with several others were bringing the bomb out. They carried it all the way to the other end of the area, as close to the facility as they could make it. Once it was placed, Kaidan walked over to Shepard before put his hand to his ear.

"Bomb is in position, we're all set he-"

"Shepard can you read me?" Ashley's voice cut through. She sounded worried or anxious. Shepard put his hand to his ear.

"The nuke's almost ready. Get to the rendezvous point, Williams!" The sound of geth gunfire could be heard in the background of it.

"Negative, Shepard. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties. We'll never make the rendezvous point in time."

"Get them out of there, Joker. Now!"

"Negative! It's too hot! Can't risk it. We'll hold them off as long as we-" The line cut off. Shepard and Kaidan looked at each other.

"It's okay, Shepard. I need a couple of minutes to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here." Kaidan said.

"Up to the AA tower. Move!" Shepard ordered his team who ran to the other door that lead to the AA tower with Shepard keeping up with them. Kaidan looked up as the Normandy went away before going to work on the bomb.

The team ran through another breeding trench. They made to the middle of it before two krogan burst through two tubes. Shepard had his omni-blade out and used it with a biotic strike on one krogan, uppercutting him. The blade went completely through his head from the force, instantly killing him. The other merely overwhelmed the other krogan with brute force. They continued on took the elevator down until it brought them to a terrace. The team ran to an area before a geth ship flew overhead. Shepard followed and saw that it was right over to where he left Kaidan and the bomb!

"Damn." Wrex mumbled.

"Reinforcements, we'd better hurry." Garrus said as it flew over.

"Heads up, LT. We just spotted a troop ship headed your way." Ashley said over the comm.

"It's already here. There's geth pouring all over the bomb site." Kaidan replied before gunfire was heard on his end.

"Can you hold them off?" Shepard asked as he raced trying to figure a way out.

"There's too many. I don't think we can survive until you get here. I'm activating the bomb." Shepard's eyes widened.

"Alenko what are you doing?!"

"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off. No matter what." A few seconds passed and Shepard could Kaidan grunting from trying to activate the nuke and not be shot. "It's done Shepard. Go get Williams and get the hell out of here."

"Screw that! We can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko." Ashley said back with a fire. Shepard was actually starting to sweat. Was he going to have to pick who lives and dies now? He- He didn't want too. He'd known Alenko for awhile. But then again he- he cared about Ash, greatly. As much as Lis in fact. He couldn't choose. He didn't want to leave either one of them behind.

"Go get Williams! It's the right choice!" He didn't want this to be how they part.

"Hell no! Go save Alenko!" He could real the pressure. It was becoming too much.

"SHUTUP!" He roared into the comm startling everyone listening. Hell, even the geth who were listening to it were somewhat stunned. Every one of his crew, not just his team, had been listening with ever increasing worry, but when Shepard roared into the comm they were downright stunned. Shepard never lost his cool and never yelled at anyone. It was always a stern, serious and commanding voice or an upbeat sarcastic voice. Wrex was actually afraid he may go into that form of his again.

Shepard was panting. He hadn't noticed until now but he was getting tired and that shout of his along with the frustration and stress were finally beginning to get to him. Then he remembered something. He had brought something that he had made onto the Normandy. It could save Kaidan!

"Joker!"

"U-U-Uh Yes Sir?" Joker snapped to attention almost. He had never heard Shepard act like this. He must have been really stressed out.

"Get me, Benezia." A few seconds later you could here Joker going 'go, go, go' to someone before Benezia's voice came over the comm.

"Benezia, go to the hangar bay and find a big black crate. On it will a holographic interface and input the code 4264766626. Joker open the bay door when she tells you too."

"I'm on it." Benezia replied.

"Got it." joker said before the line cut out.

"Kaidan, when the back up I'm sending get's there, haul ass over to where Ash is." Shepard ordered before he talked to Ashley.

"Hold on Ash."

"Shepard, I don't think I should leave the bomb-" Kaidan began to say.

"That wasn't a suggestion, Alenko." Came the growl over the radio.

"Yes Sir." Kaidan replied meekly before taking cover and tried to hold out against the onslaught of geth.

The team ran to the AA tower where Ashley was.

* * *

In the Normandy

* * *

Benezia had managed to get into the hangar and began looking for the crate. She looked and looked until she found it. It was pitch black and taller than her, not only that, but looked as if it could hold a person. She found the holographic interface Shepard spoke of and activated it.

"4-2-6-4-7-6-6-6-2-6" She pressed each number. The crate whirled and clicked before it opened up. She looked inside and saw... nothing. The crate was black on the inside too and nothing looked as if it were inside it. Wha-? This had to be the crate, right? It was the only one that matched the description and the code worked. Suddenly, two eyes lit up and a metallic boot stomped out of the crate making Benezia back up in fright. The being stepped out of the crate and Benezia was in shock and awe at it. She quickly put her finger on her ear piece.

"Mr. Moreau." She spoke for.

"Yes, Benezia?"

"Please open the bay doors." She said as calmly as she could. The thing was staring at her.

"Right." The Normandy hovered in place as the doors opened. The being turned to the open doors and sprinted out. Once it reached the edge it jumped off and the thrusters on its feet ignited along with the ones on its hands. The being flew straight to where Kaidan and the geth were.

"What the hell was that?!" Joker asked over the comm having caught a glimpse of the being as it rocketed toward the facility.

"Shepard's 'reinforcement'." She said breathlessly.

* * *

With Kaidan and the geth

* * *

Kaidan used the fuel tanks nearby to thin the geth forces but more and more just replaced them. It was losing a battle, but he had to trust Shepard as he did so many times before. Suddenly something burst through the geth ship and crushed a geth destroyer. The ship moved lazily to left and crashed into the side of the facility before landing on several geth troopers. The smoke encumbered whatever had caused the damage and the only thing Kaidan could see of it was its shape and blue lit eyes. The dust began to clear and sunlight gleamed of the being. The being was some type of robot. It was armored from head to toe and looked as if it were made stainless silver steel. On its chest piece was some kind of light and it was streamlined. The robot pointed a hand toward one of the geth and Kaidan noticed it had a smaller light in the palm of its hand. (A cyber cookie to the first one who guesses it!)

Out of the light a blast of energy fired out from it and completely melted a whole through the trooper. It raised its other hand toward another geth and did the same thing. The geth completely focused on the new threat. The robot used its thrusters to make a huge jump out of the line of fire before landing behind a geth. The robot grabbed the geth by its mechanical spinal cord and ripped it out before throwing the geth towards the rest.

Kaidan remembered Shepard's orders and ran out of the area to where the rest of the team was. One thing was for sure. They had to get Shepard into the Alliance. If he can fight this good and make something like, whew.

* * *

Back with Shepard and the rest

* * *

The group made it to where Ashley was held up. They had fought with the geth forces and were able to beat them back with relative ease. Shepard looked over the area to find that it was pretty shot up. Destroyed crates, walls riddled with holes, not to mention exploded tanks and fires. That was when he heard familiar sound. One that he hadn't since... Eden Prime. He felt a biotic signature at his back above. He turned to see Saren himself riding his hoverboard. Everyone else noticed him too and began to fire at him only for him to fire a biotic energy ball. Shepard jumped away from it time but the ball hit the ground where his team was gathered and it blasted them away. They were off the ground and landed hard enough to have trouble getting up.

Saren turned his attention too Shepard who was running for cover. He fired another ball at Shepard who jumped to dodge it, narrowly avoiding it. He tuck-n-rolled behind a crate for cover. Saren jumped off his hoverboard and landed on the ground with a thud before approaching Shepard's location. Shepard drew his pistol before getting out of cover and firing 3 times at Saren. His barrier blocked the round as if they weren't there.

"I applaud you Shepard. My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion." Saren spoke. Huh. Unlike last time actually sounded genuine.

"Well I can't take all the credit. It goes to men and women who participated in this plan." Shepard replied making Saren almost chuckle.

"Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake." Shepard kept sensing his location and noticed he hadn't moved from his spot. He also was barely aware of the other biotic signature closing in on their location.

"The galaxy's at stake. Why are you doing this?" Shepard asked hoping to stall for time.

"You've seen the visions from the beacons, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers are capable of. They cannot be stopped."

"People used to believe that about the slavers. Look what happened to them."

"Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight, and they were utterly destroyed. Trillions dead. But what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the Protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?" Saren asked, pacing as he did so. Both he and Shepard stared one another down.

"Do you really believe the Reapers will let us live?" Shepard asked as if Saren was a child.

"Now you see why I never came forward with this to the Council. We organics are driven by emotion instead of logic. We will fight even when we know we cannot win. But if we work with the Reapers, if we make ourselves useful, think how many lives could be spared!" Saren hesitated before continuing, "Once I understood this, I joined Sovereign, though I was aware of the... dangers. I had hoped that this facility would protect me."

"Your like every other poor bastard in this place. A tool Sovereign can use, then cast aside." Shepard retorted back. It was true. Now that he listened for it, he could hear the whispers on Saren.

"I've studied the effects on indoctrination. The more control Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes. That is my saving grace. Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit. My mind is my own... for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle. I will not let that happen to me."

"Why are the geth following Sovereign?"

"They believe Sovereign to be some kind of god. The pinnacle of their own evolution. But the reaction of their own deity was most telling: it is insulted. Sovereign does not desire the pitiful devotions the geth hurl at it. They are just tools, and no amount of belief on their part will change that. But as tools, they are useful. They will survive the coming invasion. If organic life is to survive, we must also prove we are useful. We must work with the Reapers."

"Tell me why Sovereign needs to find the Conduit. Tell me what it is. Maybe we can find a way to stop them."

"The Conduit is the key to your destruction and my salvation. Sovereign needs my help to find it. That is the only reason I have not been indoctrinated."

"Sovereign's manipulating you and you don't even know it! You're already under its power!" Shepard shouted. Saren shook his head in defiance.

"No! Sovereign needs me. If I find the Conduit, I've been promised a reprieve from the inevitable. This is my only hope." Saren said almost sounding dejected at the last few words.

"Together we can stop Sovereign. We don't have to submit to the Reapers. We can beat them!" Shepard said hoping what he says gets through to Saren.

"I no longer believe that, Shepard. The visions cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope of survival is too join with them. Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a resource worth maintaining. There is no other logical conclusion!" Shepard was getting angry at Saren now. this was the guy who became the best spectre? This guy who just gave up?

"You were a spectre. You were sworn to defend the galaxy. Then you broke that vow to save yourself!" Shepard argued.

"I'm not doing this for myself! Don't you see? Sovereign will succeed. It is inevitable. My way is the only way any us will survive! I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed. But you would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die." Saren said before grabbing the geth pulse rifle on his back. Shepard pointed his Master HMWP at him.

"You know I managed to remove the indoctrination from Benezia right?" Saren froze at the statement.

"How?" He asked in shock.

"I honestly don't understand it myself, but I did manage it. She's on my ship right now as we speak. It's not too late Saren. You can still be saved." Shepard didn't lower his pistol. Saren stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter. The Reapers will still come and even if you do figure out how to remove indoctrination from others, the Reapers will simply do it to them again. It is inevitable!" Saren pointed his pulse rifle at Shepard and began firing. Shepard ducked behind one of the crates before Saren stopped himself. Shepard fired over the crate before throwing a grenade. Saren jumped out of the way as it exploded Shepard ran at him and biotically pulled the rifle from his grasp. Saren got back up before slapping the pistol out of Shepard's hand. Both entered a biotic melee with punches and kicks. Saren ducked under kick before having his punch blocked by Shepard's arm. Saren used his other arm to strike Shepard who used the momentum to backflip and leap towards Saren, reverse elbowing him in the chest. Saren was pushed back a few feet before trying too punch him again with a biotic strike. Shepard caught his fist with a biotic reinforced hand before trying to stab Saren in the head. Saren caught him by the wrist and both tried to gain the upper hand.

"You've gotten better since last time." Saren noted still straining. This human was definitely different from the rest of his kind.

"Yeah, Spectre training helps a lot." Shepard replied doing the same.

"I thought I recognized some of those moves, but..." Shepard was suddenly kneed in the chin making him detach from Saren.

"That isn't..." Saren punched him in the face hard.

"enough..." Saren drew another punch and struck him again.

"to beat..." Saren uppercutted him.

"ME!" He threw another punch but this time Shepard caught it. Shepard backhanded him with an omni-tool fist. Saren felt the heat on it before Shepard thrust his open palm towards his chest, glowing with biotic energy. Saren was suddenly blasted back into some wreckage before getting back up. Shepard jumped to where his pistol had landed and grabbed it. Shepard aimed at to Saren too see he had grabbed his pulse rifle and was on his hoverboard again. Shepard ran to cover with Saren firing along trying to get him. One his rounds hit a nearby canister which exploded knocking Shepard off his feet. Saren jumped off the hoverboard and walked over to Shepard, discarding his rifle. Shepard got up and saw his team was starting to get back up before he turned and was grabbed by the neck by a clawed hand. Saren dragged him a couple of feet before hoisting him into the air with one hand.

Both glared at one another. An alarm went off far off away drawing Saren's attention for a second. It was all Shepard needed. He drew his fist back and when Saren turned to look at him, all he could see was a fist approaching at fast speeds. The blow was so hard he let go of Shepard and was knocked to the floor. His mandible and torso were hurting now, aching with soreness. He got up and looked at Shepard who was on all fours trying to get up. He had blood going down the side of his face and had a black eye forming. Something about Shepard looked familiar. He reminded of him of the human he met in the temple on Palaven. Just as driven he even looked somewhat similar to him too. Then he shook his head. No need to remember that day. He had to get out of here.

Shepard looked up to see Saren walking away to his hoverboard before escaping. Shepard tried to aim his pistol at him but his hand was to shaking from fatigue. He holstered it before trying to get up. With some difficulty, he had managed to on one knee. He tried to stand up and got to a wobbly stance before falling forward. A hand caught him by the arm making him look up.

"Kaidan." Shepard whispered. Kaidan Alenko smirked at him before place Shepard's arm over his head.

"You look like hell Shepard." He said.

"You took your time." Shepard retorted.

"Sorry. Ran into a few geth on the way over." Kaidan said as they walked to the others. The Normandy flew over them before hovering. The bomb's blaring became faster.

"Time to go." Shepard said. Everyone ran to the Normandy's opened hangar bay. A minute later, the Normandy was flying away from Virmire. The team had bunkered down in the hangar.

"Alright, everybody hang on!" Joker's voice said over the intercom. The Normandy zoomed away as the nuke detonated, leaving a big mushroom cloud. In the hangar of the Normandy, Shepard had a small smile on his face. His team was safe and they didn't lose anyone.

* * *

**I always hated the fact you had to choose between Kaidan and Ashley. Always hated it. And to be honest I've only found a few that allowed both to live.**

**So tell me what you think.**

**Good?**

**Bad?**

**Review please. I hope you enjoyed it!**


	34. Virmire Aftermath

**A/N: For those of you who are waiting for the next chapter of DA:O Prequel, sorry I haven't updated. I've hit a block with that story currently. If you want me to try and make it faster, put more reviews on!**

* * *

Recap: "Alright, everybody hang on!" Joker's voice said over the intercom. The Normandy zoomed away as the nuke detonated, leaving a big mushroom cloud. In the hangar of the Normandy, Shepard had a small smile on his face. His team was safe and they didn't lose anyone.

* * *

Now

* * *

The team was in the hangar bay getting back up from having hit the floor entering the Normandy. Shepard got on his feet but wobbled a little. He wasn't as sore from the beating Saren gave him as he was a minute ago, no doubt due to his healing. But still... Saren did a pretty good number on him. He walked over to the elevator before leaning on the interior wall of it. Every second, he was feeling a little better. Everyone got in, including Kirrahe and his squad. Shepard noticed that their numbers had shrunk by at least half. The elevator closed on them and it was crowded. It climbed slowly upwards. Everyone had been used to it by now, but apparently no one told the salarians.

"Ghost." Kirrahe said grabbing his attention.

"I believe your elevator my have a malfunction." Shepard merely grinned.

"No, I'm pretty sure this is nothing more than an oversight in the construction." He replied before groaning. Everyone turned to him.

"I knew it. I knew this elevator was gonna be the death of me." Everyone chuckled except the salarians who wondering what was with this human. The door opened and everyone got out before moving to the med bay where Chakwas was at.

After getting a concerned scolding from her, Shepard was the first one out and headed to his room. As soon as he was in, he locked the door and passed out on his bed.

* * *

"It was an honor working with you, Ghost. Despite the losses, our mission was a success. Your actions and that of your crew has earned humanity a great deal of respect from my people." Kirrahe said to him as the team was in front of Normandy. Both shook hands briefly before letting go. They had docked on a small supply station and were bidding Kirrahe and his team goodbye.

"I'm not really part of humanity, but... thank you for the compliment. It was fun fighting with an STG team. I just hope you guys don't forget this or get into too much trouble."

"Rest assured Ghost, my men and I will not forget what you accomplished here. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to work together again someday." Kirrahe assured.

"Maybe someday, though I hope it is under better circumstances." Kirrahe nodded.

"Agreed." With that he walked back to the hangar bay. That was when Commander Rentola walked up to him. They had spoken briefly on Virmire when Wrex had blown a gasket about the plan.

"You have my gratitude Ghost. The captain considers the mission a success. I defer to his judgement." Rentola said. Shepard took that as salarian military slang for 'good job.'

"Glad I could help."

"Good luck, Ghost." With that Rentola met up with the rest of the team. Shepard watched them before turning to his team, smirking. His whole team that could have lost 3 people if he hadn't been careful.

"Come on let's go. We got things to do too." Shepard said ushering them to the ship.

* * *

Everyone stepped into the comm room and began talking about what happened on Virmire.

"Thanks, Shepard. Things got pretty hot down there. Saved my life." Ashley said as she sat down beside Kaidan.

"Saved both our lives. I don't know how you got that thing Shepard, but the Alliance will come up with a whole new medal for what you pulled off here." Kaidan said with his hands gesturing about it.

"If they don't give you a severe reprimand first. You endangered the entire mission. Why didn't you just leave one of us behind?" Ashley cut in. Shepard was sitting down in his chair with his arms crossed, looking like he couldn't give a damn about anything now.

"I don't like loosing people. No one gets left behind. Not while I'm in charge." Shepard replied back.

"We might have tried Shepard, but I don't think either one of us could've pulled this off. Anyone else? I'd say they got lucky." Kaidan said back.

"Kaidan's right. Nobody else could have made a stunt like that work. Put anyone else in charge and someone gets left behind or the mission fails." Ashley finished. Shepard nodded with a proud look. Not many complimented him on his missions so he enjoyed it for a moment.

"Shepard?" He looked at Liara. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I have an idea. I think the beacon you found in Saren's base was similar to the one you found one Eden Prime. I may have filled in the missing pieces of your vision. I might be able to help you put all those pieces together."

"You want to join our minds again, don't you? Okay. Go ahead." Shepard stood out of his seat the same time Liara did. Both got within arms length of each other.

"Relax, Shepard." She closed her eyes. Shepard closed his having already known what was coming. "Embrace eternity!" Liara said before her eyes opened, revealing black orbs.

The images came like last time only it was more slower, easier to process. The whole thing was similar except for only a few things. Images of a place he had never been to. Some type of metal construction that frightened, but could have sworn he had seen it some place. Then it all turned to the viewpoint of a system with a blazing sun. Suddenly he was turned to the planet. It was shadowed from the position he was at. He came toward the planet at a very fast but stable pace. Shepard could see something as he approached the center but this time he knew it was a reaper. Then the vision ended. Liara backed away from him, looking flushed and fatigued.

"Incredible. I... I never thought the images would be so... intense. I need a moment to collect myself." Shepard didn't saying anything, silently giving her time to collect herself. When he thought she had enough time he began talking.

"Did the vision make any sense to you?" Liara glanced at him.

"It's a distress call, a message sent out across the Prothean Empire. A warning against the Reapers, but the warning came too late."

"What about the Conduit?" She looked down at the floor, going over the vision in her head.

"There were other images. Locations. Places I recognized from my research..." Her head snapped up in realization. "Ilos! The Conduit is on Ilos! That is why Saren needed to find the Mu Relay! It is the only way to get to Ilos."

"How come you never told us about Illos before?" He figured if she had seen the vision once before from him, she should've recognized the planet immediately.

"The Mu Relay links to dozens of systems and hundreds of worlds. How was I to know Ilos was the one we wanted? Without the Cipher, the images in your visions were never clear. Only now do I recognize them as landmarks from Ilos." She made a good point. It was difficult to make out those shapes and be able to tell that they were landmarks.

"Well then, we need to get to Ilos!" Shepard said about to tell Joker to plot a course to Ilos.

"Forget it. The Mu Relay's inside the Terminus Systems. Alliance ships are not welcome there. Neither are Spectres." Shepard gave her a blank stare before pointing to himself.

"Hello? Ghost of the _Terminus _right here! I can walk right into the Terminus Systems and tell people to either join me or die." Shepard said seriously. Tali's eyes widened.

"I had actually forgotten about that." Tali admitted. Everyone started smiling at him remembering that he had access to anywhere in the Terminus Systems, or at least had more pull in it than most.

"So we're in agreement? The Conduit's on Ilos. That's where Saren is heading. We'll be waiting for him when he gets there!" Shepard said lowering his hand.

"Saren will have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos. You will never make it down to the surface without reinforcements. You must alert the Council. We need a fleet to- ohhhh." Liara listed off before she stumbled dizzily. Shepard moved forward and grabbed her shoulders. Everyone looked at her in mild worry at her sudden state. Shepard pushed her gently back up until she was standing normally but still kept his hands on her shoulders.

"I am sorry. The joining is... exhausting. I should go to the medical bay and lie down for a moment." Shepard rose an eyebrow. He could understand the first time would be exhausting but after Lis joined him the first time, it was easy from there.

"Are you sure it was the joining? I feel fine." Shepard said.

"Your role in our communion is passive as you know. I am the one who must submerge myself in your mind. Drown myself in your thoughts. The human subconscious instinctively resists the joining, Shepard. A strong personality like yours makes it even harder. I just need some time to recover." Wait a minute, so all those times he and Lis did it, she wasn't tired from just the action, she was tired from melding with him? Oh that is it. When he get's back they were going to have a long talk. But first things first. Take care of the people in front of him.

"Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."

"That will not be necessary. I just need some rest. Somewhere quiet." Shepard nodded in understanding.

"Fine then. We're done here. Dismissed." He said. Everyone left the room except for Ashley. Shepard noticed her almost immediately.

"Yes, Ash?" She walked up to him and gave him the most endearing look she had ever given. Before he could say anything else she hugged him tightly.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank God for you." She said. Shepard froze for a split second before returning it to her. They stayed that way for two minutes before she looked up at him. He looked back into her eyes before her face came closer and looked her lips with his. They felt a spark go up their spines. Shepard hesitated before kissing back. The kept at it before he forcefully pulled himself from her and backed up to the chairs behind him.

"I can't... I can't do this Ash." Shepard said sliding into a chair. She looked at him sadly. Walking up, she kneeled down to give him a hug. He didn't hug back. It wasn't because he didn't want too, but if he did he would feel like he was betraying Lis. Dammit they were having a baby! He was going to be there for both of them! A small voice at the back of his head told him she would be fine with it. Yes, she had brought someone else to bed with them before. Yes, they were asari, human, turian, drell and at one point even a quarian he let stay at his place for a couple of days. And yes all of them were female, but things were different now! A baby wasn't part of that! A baby can't be raised in that! The voice came back saying he loved Ashley. He loved Liara. He loved both of them just as much as he loved Lis.

He tried to fight it. Hell, he's been fighting it since he told them his plans for after this mess with Saren was done. He noticed the looks they gave him afterwards. He noticed that they tried to seduce him when he trained in the hangar. He noticed when Ashley would bend over the work bench with one hand under her chin while the other would be tweaking a weapon. How her breasts and ass would pop up. Same thing with Liara when she would practice with him. She'd get too close and noticed something, or _some things_, brush up against him. He noticed how she would use a throw and she would make these slightly over-exaggerated moves and positions that would make his mind stop before thinking of something completely different from any earlier thoughts.

"It's ok. I understand. I know Shepard. I know." Ashley whispered gently to him. He steadied himself before she let go and walked out. He waited for a few minutes before Joker's voice came over the intercom.

"Shepard, there's a comm buoy nearby. I can link us in if you want to report back to the Citadel Council. You know, to warn them about Sovereign." Shepard inhaled and exhaled as he got out of the chair and turned to the comm.

"Set it up, Joker. They need to know."

"Setting up the link now." The Council appeared on the hologram.

"Ghost. I'm pleased to see that mission on Virmire was a success." Tevos said smiling.

"Saren is formidable enough without an army of krogan serving under him." Sparatus said with some small time approval.

"The krogan would have served Sovereign. A Reaper." Shepard replied grimly. He noticed Valern would speak next.

"Yes, we saw mention of this on your report. Sovereign. A sentient machine. A true artificial intelligence. This news is quite alarming..." Why oh why did he get the feeling he was about to be disappointed? "if it turns out to be accurate." And there it was!

"Sovereign's a Reaper. Saren admitted it." He said.

"He's playing you Shepard! Saren still has contacts on the Citadel. He probably saw your earlier reports. The one talking about your vision. And the Reapers." Sparatus said condescendingly.

"It's highly possible Saren is using false information to throw you off balance. Our own intelligence has never turned up any corroborating information." Shepard actually face-palmed himself.

"Have you guys had anyone actually looking into it?" Shepard asked. Valern was thrown off balance by the question.

"Yes we have."

"Anyone serious?" Valern didn't answer that time. Shepard nodded and paced back in forth. Sparatus became annoyed at Shepard's behavior.

"Come now, Ghost. You can't honestly believe that these visions of your are real?" Shepard's eyes snapped to Sparatus and the turian had to suppress a flinch from the look Shepard gave him.

"Then tell me why did Saren have a working prothean beacon on Virmire. And don't tell me it was a fake because when you encounter a beacon like that, it is not an experience you forget." Shepard said cooly. They looked to one another and didn't answer. They couldn't.

"Sooner or later you're going to have to take something I say on faith, Councilors." Shepard added annoyed.

"Try to see it from our perspective, Ghost. Saren is a threat we can recognize. However as far as we know, the Reapers only exist in your visions." Tevos placated. Shepard simmered down but not by much.

"Our decisions affect trillions of lives. We cannot act on the accusations of one single person. Even a Spectre. not without solid evidence." Valern said hoping it Shepard would understand. He knew he was not without reason. Shepard sighed.

"Your decisions, or rather your indecision, is going to cost trillions of lives. Sovereign and Saren both will eventually come to the Citadel to take you down. I know where he is now. He's on Ilos. I'm going to need a fleet. I can smooth things over with Aria first if you are worried about her or any pirate/merc interference." The Councilors looked to one another again before both Tevos and Valern looked to Sparatus. The turian considered it briefly before shaking his head.

"The Council cannot take any action here. That is why we created the Spectres. You have the authority to act as you see fit." Tevos putting her hands behind her back.

"If you truly believe Sovereign is the real threat, you must take whatever steps are necessary to stop it. And Saren."

"Good luck Ghost. From all of us." Sparatus logged off but Tevos and Valern didn't.

"Is there something else Councilors?" Shepard asked.

"About Saren. Did you find out if he's under control or not?" Valern asked. Shepard nodded.

"Yes, he has the same thing Benezia had, but I'm not sure if I can save him."

"Why not?" Tevos questioned.

"Because I don't even know how I saved Benezia. This type of mind control is unlike any I have ever seen. I've seen control chips, hypnotizing and the Thorian's method but indoctrination is something else. It goes deeper. You know this Councilor Tevos. I'll figure out what to do next. But still, to get to Illos and to Saren, I'll have to go through his fleet. And I'll need a fleet to do that." Tevos and Valern sighed before thinking it over.

"We'll think over it, Ghost. But that is all we can promise for now."

"I'll take it. Good day Councilors." Shepard said before the comm disconnected. He sighed before walking down to his room. He sat down in his chair looking at the monitor screen. The Iron Man robot's results had transmitted back to his Personal OSD. The geth had tried to hack through its cyber defenses but luckily the firewalls Shepard and Isaac both wrote and installed along with the four VIs that were used held up just long enough for the bomb to go off.

The Iron Man had four VI's installed into it. The first was to govern its functions: Motor, combat, aerial and even speech. It was able to discern the difference between friend and foe, but only to a certain degree. Whatever enemy was already programed and what ever was firing at it could be considered a threat. The second VI was used for cyber defense incase the firewalls were breached. The Iron Man has no need to hack for it was built for security reasons and possible find and destroy so there was no need to hack when it could simply rip and blow through walls. The third and fourth are on stand by just in case one of the Primary VIs was malfunctioning or was hacked out.

From the data that came back though, it was really close to being completely hacked. The firewalls had held up for a while, but they were designed to fight VI hacking. While they could hold up against maybe a few geth programs but as more and more brush up against it, they begin to break through. Isaac had written those firewalls himself and had Shepard install several of them in the Iron Man. But Isaac had wrote them only believing that the hacking it'd face would be from mercenaries and possibly STG Agents. They noticed that STG had been sniffing around through the years and Aria had told Shepard that STG had very excellent hackers so it would be best if they had very good cyber defenses. But now Isaac had to work on it more since the geth broke through all of them and had to fight not one, not two, but three VIs before the bomb detonated. They had been afraid that if the geth had successfully hacked it, ooooh boy. They would have some serious upgrades to add to their bodies. Then he looked at the data on the genophage cure. His eyes poured over it lazily before widening. He quickly reread it two more times before stopping himself. He activated his omni-tool and called Wrex up. A few minutes later the krogan walked in.

"Yes, Shepard?" Shepard didn't react, he just simply had his head down on top of his hands, elbows on the table.

"Shepard?"

"It's not a cure." Wrex's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"It's not a cure. It's a double-edge sword, Wrex." Shepard said looking up at Wrex. The krogan's eyes widened briefly before narrowing in anger.

"What do you mean by double-edge sword?" He asked with a growl forming on his lips.

"The 'genophage cure' does get rid of the infertility, but it accelerates growth exponentially." Shepard mumbled out.

"I don't understand. What do you mean by accelerates growth?"

"It means that the krogan that would be born would grow faster. Gestate faster, be born faster, grow into adulthood faster, etc." Shepard replied.

"How fast?"

"Let me put it to you this way: As we both know, krogan can live almost as long as asari, but this" Shepard said gesturing to the screen that showed the genophage. "Will cut the krogan's lifespan to an astonishing 20 years." Wrex growled at the logistics.

"Can you change that?" Shepard shook his head negatively.

"No, Wrex. Ask me to make a machine or a weapon and I'm your guy. But biochemistry or genetics? A blind man has a better chance of navigating a minefield." Shepard replied.

"Then what now? All that for nothing!" Shepard looked at Wrex.

"It was not for nothing! If you and I hadn't done that, chances are the krogan would've taken this no questions asked and what's left of your people would be in jeopardy. Now, I know a guy who can probably help with this, but it'll take a long time before we may see any real positive results."

"He any good?"

"He's a fast learner, helped keep me from the Shadow Broker and also made a medium business empire out in the Terminus. He's the best." Shepard said talking about Isaac. There was silence for a few moments before Wrex spoke.

"Shepard, things got heated back on Virmire. I just want you to know that despite that argument or the choice to 'destroy' the cure, I respect your choice." Shepard nodded to him.

"I appreciate what you did Wrex. I won't forget it." Shepard replied. Wrex glanced at the terminal before looking back at him.

"Just make sure it was worth it. Saren has to pay for what he's done."

"We'll have him soon enough. Then he can answer for his crimes." Wrex's eyes narrowed at the statement.

"He'll do more than just answer if I have anything to say about it." With that Wrex turned to leave the room.

"So long Wrex." Shepard said.

"Shepard." Was all he got back before the krogan left. Shepard turned back to the terminal and began looking over things. Making sure everything was safe, he looked at his omni-tool before talking.

"Isaac."

"Yes, Shepard?"

"Do you think you could look over the genophage 'solution' and possibly fashion a cure from it?" Isaac took a once over on the data before answering.

"Hmmm. I could but it will take time, resources, and sadly testing." Shepard winced at testing.

"How much time?"

"If I have plenty of resources at my disposal, a few years, perhaps a decade. Without proper information on the genophage, I can't exactly tell."

"And without test subjects?" Isaac didn't answer at first making Shepard nervous.

"Unknown." Dammit. Without proper testing and proper knowledge, it'll be impossible. Shepard thought of possible things they could do to achieve their goal. That was when an idea popped into his head.

"When we head back, will take hold of the really bad krogan. You know, the kind who kill for the fun of it, no matter who it is." Shepard said.

"That is morally debatable still." For an AI, Isaac had a good understanding or morals than most people. It was one of the reasons that he and Shepard were able to work so well without any real conflict, save for a few trivial arguments that either one lost.

"Then we leave them unconscious or brain dead." Shepard replied. Neither of those two were much better, but it was a step in the right direction.

"It's a start." Isaac said before moving on. "What are your thoughts on the Iron Man project?" Shepard turned back to the data reports.

"Overall? Better than we hoped considering it held against the geth on both a physical and virtual plane for quite some time."

"For 10 minutes, 11 seconds. The physical capabilities are to be expected, but the cyberdefenses... "

"Held up greatly having been made to prevent VI hacking. I believe had it not been for the geth being AI, they never would've made it past the first one."

"True, but if we hadn't placed those VI's in the Iron Man, the geth would have a very dangerous weapon at their disposal." Shepard nodded.

"That or whatever data they had gotten would be blown away since there was a nuke right beside them." He reasoned with a sly smile.

"Also true." Isaac replied with slight amusement. Another thing he had gained with being with Shepard.

"What do you think we should do to continue?" Isaac asked. Shepard stared at it before he began typing. He pulled up another project, The Combat Drone. Inside the file contained several versions of it. Basic ideas and additions. There were four in all. One version having flight while another version was antiaircraft. One version had rockets while another had stealth along with E.M.P.S.

"What are you thinking about Shepard?" Shepard's mind raced with possibilities of the drones. Isaac's question finally registered in his mind.

"The Iron Man is good, but as we've seen, it still could use some work. The drones are made cheaper, and with less resources. Each. The Iron Man model now could win against each drone with some minor difficulty." Shepard said before pausing.

"And?" Isaac prompted after a moment of silence.

"And despite that, I'm worried."

"Why?" What Shepard be worried about.

"The Reapers." He clarified.

"I understood that, but what about them?"

"You did hear Sovereign right?"

"Of course."

"The fact that the Reapers are legion. Probably not enough to blot out the sky of every world, and that alone is worrying enough, but if all of them are like Sovereign..." Shepard left letting Isaac think it over.

"Then each and every one of them is strong enough to cause incredible destruction. It won't matter if they have the geth as ground troops. As synthetics the only things we really need resources for would be to make something or repair something. We wouldn't need anything to sustain us, at least not like you organics. We have no immediate need for resources, which will give them a clear advantage among numerous ones."

"That's not the only reason they won't have any need for geth as troops. Remember those husks? Those things could take a few bullets. Not just that, but they have superior strength and have the ability to emit an electric pulse that plays havoc on shields. But what frightens me most is that fact that it is just humans." Shepard added.

"And if a human husk is capable of that..." Isaac said catching on

"Then imagine what a batarian or turian could do."

"Or an asari or krogan."

"Exactly. And what's worse is that I don't think that is all they are capable of. The armies of the Council and the Terminus combined are not ready for a fight like this. Our technology isn't ready, or our loyalties for that matter."

"So what do you have in mind?" Shepard took the schematics of all of the drones and placed them over each other until it looked like one drone with all of the parts. It looked just clunked together and top heavy.

"We'll have to rearrange and downsize some things on the drones before they're mass produced. Not only that but the Iron Man is going to need some serious upgrades and maybe we can link the two together." Shepard said as he began to type furiously. He created a new folder to save the other two in. He gave it a fitting name before moving on to his newest projects: Project War Machine.

* * *

A couple hours later...

* * *

Shepard walked out of his room stiffly having been sitting for a few hours, working on plans for Project War Machine. He was taking a big risk after it came to fruition but he was confident things would be fine when it would happen. After walking out he saw Kaidan and Joker at the mess, sitting down. Shepard walked over to him and sat across from Kaidan and beside Joker. Joker talked to him first in a relieved tone.

"Shepard, I know it couldn't have been easy down there. Having to nearly make the call between Alenko and Williams must have been..." Shepard looked at him making Joker lessen his jovial tone. "I'm sorry. I don't know if I could have done it."

"There is no right choice for that. Let's just hope I don't end up in that situation again. Might not be a third option next time." Shepard replied as he popped his neck. Sitting in one chair for too long did that to you. Joker raised his hands a little.

"Here's hoping."

"Anything you need, Shepard?" Kaidan asked. The man looked to be deep in thought.

"Things got desperate down there." Shepard commented. The sentinel nodded.

"Yea, they did. Sorry for anything I said back there. Adrenaline." Kaidan replied. He appeared more subdued, possibly because of the fact that Shepard had yelled at him and Ashley or from the pressure of nearly dying or of someone else dying on Virmire. Or all of them.

"I don't like to lose people, Alenko." Shepard said trying to excuse his own behavior. He hated losing control and he had enough deaths with people near him. Kaidan snorted.

"I served for years, but never lost a soldier under my command." Then he remembered Jenkins and frowned. "Not to hostile action anyway." He looked at Shepard.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Shepard rose an eyebrow. "how did you deal with the losses during the Skyllian Blitz?" Shepard's eye closed, remembering the ground trembling, him running and everyone else dying. Elysium. Akuze. Torfan. Seconds later he opened his eyes and answered Kaidan.

"I didn't know anyone personally in any of those places, but they did look up to me and I never really did like seeing people die, not if I could help it. My coping was as soon as I got back home I just hit the bottle. I had depression and guilt which caused me not to leave the house for certain periods of time. Chances are, if it hadn't been for certain someone, I wouldn't have bothered continuing on. In the end I had to keep going because others needed me to keep going." Shepard replied as he tapped his hands on the table. It was something to help keep himself preoccupied. Kaidan looked at him for a moment before smirking.

"You're right. Besides, Williams and I are alive. I can't let what almost happened, get to me. Thanks for the advice."

"Don't mention it." Shepard and Kaidan looked around for something to do before Shepard started talking again.

"Well this is uncomfortable." Joker muttered.

"So what DID you think of Virmire?" Shepard asked. Kaidan raised an eyebrow.

"Input? Hell, I don't know. We're fighting giant machines from outside the galaxy. Should I be afraid of them? Or in awe of them? Anything so old, so intelligent..." Kaidan looked like he drifted of in thought completely.

"We may be ants to them, but humans have never managed to exterminate ants." It was true. Nearly 300 years after the invention of insecticide, and ants were still around causing all kinds of trouble for humans. He knew this because someone on Mindoir brought an ant farm with them when they moved and one day it had toppled over and broke releasing all the ants. A month later and ant hills started popping up everywhere. True, Mindoir had its own type of insects and all, but the person brought fucking Red Imported Fire Ants! Those things became top dog in their new insect world in a matter of days. Worse still, they plagued everyone on Mindoir. Eventually, Hannah had enough of them invading their homes and stinging her son, despite the fact it would heal within an hour, so she created a device that drove the ants crazy. The ants attacked each other until one colony was left and then pest control came in. The rest was history... until the larva grew up and it began again. But Shepard, digressed.

"It makes you wonder. Are ants any more aware of than we are? Of the giants that walk over their heads?" Kaidan asked.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they're aware of us considering they eat our food in our homes and the fact that some of them get stomped on by big enormous boot." Joker replied with a small smile.

"I wonder how the crew's doing after that mission." Shepard idly wondered.

"We're all in for the duration. You can count on everyone doing their duty." Kaidan replied. That was when Ashley walked in.

"I hope we can get the Council to give us a hand, skipper." She said as she sat down.

"They're right you know? We don't have that much proof. My 'visions' and the word of a rebellious spectre." Shepard said.

"We've got our suit recordings. That's something." She replied hopefully.

"I've talked with the Councilors and I believe that the asari and salarian councilors are coming around to the idea of it. At the very least they believe that Saren is under some type of control. But that's it. No real action." Shepard replied negatively.

"I'm sure that with enough time you can convince them." Kaidan replied trying to cheer Shepard up. Joker jumped in.

"Yea, I mean if they are listening to you then you're showing or doing something right."

"It doesn't mean squat if we reach the home stretch and we can't make it past the final obstacle between us and the finish line." Shepard replied crossing his arms. Kaidan and Joker sighed at Shepard's attitude. He was really worn down now wasn't he? Well, someone wasn't about to let stay that way for long.

"There's a reason for everything that happens, Shepard. Even if you don't understand it at the time. What happened during the Blitz. It wasn't easy, I know, but it gave you the drive you needed on this mention." Ashley motioned around them. "And that got you here. Commanding the finest tin can in the Alliance fleet. This is the exactly where the galaxy needs you to be." Shepard looked at her with a small smirk on his face. She was right. Kaidan and Joker were looking at her in shock having not expected such a pep talk from her of all people.

"No pressure." She added seeing the looks, blushing before looking away. The three men chuckled at her actions. Shepard got out of his seat and prepared to go down to the hangar.

"You're right Ash. Can't let myself get down after coming this far. Don't worry, I'll be where you need me to be." Shepard replied. As he left in the elevator, Ashley looked over to Kaidan and Joker who were eyeing her.

"What?" She asked nervously.

"We're just wondering who's got Shepard's attention more right now. You or Liara." Joker said with a cheeky grin. Ashley blushed scarlet before glaring at him.

"You are lucky you have brittle bones, otherwise I'd-" Joker was looking scared as Ashley growled out her sentence before Kaidan jumped to his rescue.

"Now, Chief. In all fairness he was just answering your question. Besides, people are wanting to know if the bet will be resolved." He said mumbling the last sentence but Ashley heard it.

"What?! What bet?!" Kaidan was now the one looking scared.

"uuuuuhhhhhh." He looked for any chance to escape which flew out the window when she grabbed him by his fatigues. Joker silently snuck away which was pretty good for a guy who needed assistance at times.

"What bet?" She growled.

"There was a bet made by Wrex and Garrus when Liara came onboard. They betted on which one of you would get Shepard, either in a relationship or just for one night. Wrex betted on you while Garrus betted on Liara. Then the bet spread all over the ship until everyone was in on it." Kaidan confessed. Ashley blushed even more out of embarrassment and anger.

"Does Shepard know about this?" Kaidan shook his head no.

"You, Liara and him are the only ones who weren't supposed to know." Ashley let go of him before walking to the crew quarters to catch some rack time. It had been a real stressful day for her with all the fighting and feelings and stuff. She knew she wanted Shepard. She knew Liara wanted Shepard. She knew that Shepard wanted both of them but stayed away out of respect and also the fact he was going to become a father within the next few months. From what she read recently about asari though, it might help persuade Shepard be a little more... open about this. If not well... she and Liara could always double team him.

* * *

The next day

* * *

Ashley walked into the med-bay. She greeted Chakwas briefly before walking to the back to where we Liara was. It was only Liara in the room now. Benezia must be helping Shepard train or something.

"Chief Williams. I was not expecting a visit from you." Liara said in mild surprise. Liara and Ashley while on good terms haven't talked much. Shepard and their interest in him had been a big reason why but today was different.

"You look much better." Ashley commented not thinking of anything else to say. Liara looked at her, wondering why she was here before answering.

"Dr. Chakwas assures me that I'm going to be fine. I am still impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology." Ashley almost said something along the lines of 'humans are than what they seem' but stopped herself. That was ignorant of her. It was time to stop that.

"Yeah, Dr. Chakwas is one of the best medics I've seen." Ashley said awkwardly.

"I've been thinking about Saren." Liara confessed trying to make the conversation keep going. "I actually feel a little sorry for him now." Ashley nodded reluctantly. As much as she hated to admit it, Saren wasn't worth hating now. Not when he is being manipulated.

"He's a slave and he doesn't even realize it." She replied.

"He is trapped inside his mind. Part of him senses his identity slowly being swallowed by Sovereign, but he is powerless to stop it. I wonder how he first fell into Sovereign's trap?" Ashley had begun to wonder that too. "Did he think he could somehow stop the Reapers from returning? Or was he driven by a lust for power and glory?"

"Shepard could probably help figure it out, but whatever his reasons were, they're long gone now. He has to be stopped." Ashley replied with conviction.

"Yes, I suppose you are right. He may be Sovereign's victim, but he still a threat to all as we know it." She began to say before stopping herself. "Let's not spend every free minute talking about Saren. It is bad enough we are chasing him across the galaxy."

"Couldn't agree more." She said before an unsteady silence descended on the two.

"Is there something you wished to talk about?" Liara asked. Ashley blushed and brushed the back of her head in embarrassment. Liara looked at her strangely having never seen her like this.

"About Shepard..." Liara's eyes widened realizing what the topic was going to be. Ashley lowered her hand and sighed before continuing. "Look, I know you have feelings for him and you I do too."

"Yes, it has been apparent to him for quite some time."

"And we know his feelings on the matter as well as his situation." Liara nodded. She had been depressed when Shepard told her the news but she wasn't going to give up. Shepard was the most interesting person to her. She had begun to have feelings for him after Therum and they grew until now she wanted him stay.

"And... Dammit, what I'm suggesting is..."

* * *

Back to Shepard (I'm evil. I know.)

* * *

Shepard was helping Garrus work on the mako. Both working on its tires considering a few were blown out and needed a rotation anyway. They were halfway done before Garrus started talking.

"Shepard."

"Yeah?" Shepard biotically lifted a tire while Garrus screwed in the bolts.

"I wanted to thank you." Shepard looked at him confused as the finished the tire.

"What for?" Shepard asked as they moved on to the last tire.

"For everything." Garrus screwed in a bolt. "Taking me with you." Screwed in another. "Letting me be a part of your team." And another. "I've learned a lot." And the last one.

They both stood up and began putting away the tools.

"I've thought about what you've told me. About not sacrificing innocents to achieve the goal. About finding the best way through, not the fastest." Shepard nodded.

"Life isn't about taking the easy way out. It's about taking the right way." Shepard replied with Garrus nodding. They placed the last of the tools in the toolbox. Garrus turned to Shepard.

"I've been thinking about Dr. Saleon too. I'd convinced myself that he deserved to die, but then I started thinking about why I wanted him dead."

"And what did you find out?" Shepard asked thinking this might be it. This might be where Garrus finally starts to do things right.

"I realized it wasn't because of what he did to those people." Shepard raised an eyebrow. Well, this wasn't looking to good. Garrus must've seen his expression because he continued on, "That was part of it. But I think most of it was because he got away from me."

"Oh?" Shepard asked with interest now. Maybe he judged too soon.

"He escaped under my watch, and I didn't like that. I let it become personal." Hmm. That was better, but was that it?

"Words mean nothing until you turn them into action, Garrus. What are you going to do about it?" Shepard asked. He wanted to know what Garrus was going to do to make a difference.

"Well, I'm going back to C-Sec. I think I can make a difference there." Shepard raised an eyebrow. Working in C-Sec was the reason why Garrus was on here in the first place. All that red-tape holding him back.

"I'll also reapply for Spectre training. But I'll do it right. I won't compromise myself to get there." Shepard nodded.

"If the people I'm sworn to protect can't trust me... well, then I don't deserve to be the one protecting them." Shepard smiled.

"I'm glad you see it that way. Keep that in mind when we meet Saren."

"Don't worry, Shepard. I will." Garrus replied before Joker's voice came over the comm.

"Shepard, you're going to need to get to the CIC. There's a message from the Citadel."

"Sounds urgent. On my way." Shepard replied before walking to the elevator.

'Hopefully, things are taking a turn for the better now.' Shepard thought as the doors closed on him.

* * *

With Saren and Sovereign

* * *

Saren awoke on a bench of some sort inside Harbinger. Standing over him were two geth with operating tools. Overhead were other things used for major surgery but were the Reaper version: Pointed, purplish and looking ten times worse than normal surgical tools. The last thing Saren remembered was thinking about Shepard's words.

_"Your like every other poor bastard in this place. A tool Sovereign can use, then cast aside... Tell me why Sovereign needs to find the Conduit. Tell me what it is. Maybe we can find a way to stop them... Sovereign's manipulating you and you don't even know it! You're already under its power!... Together we can stop Sovereign. We don't have to submit to the Reapers. We can beat them!... You were a spectre. You were sworn to defend the galaxy. Then you broke that vow to save yourself!... You know I managed to remove the indoctrination from Benezia right? I honestly don't understand it myself, but I did manage it. She's on my ship right now as we speak. It's not too late Saren. You can still be saved._"

Each one of those stuck to him, but the last few had hit the hardest. Shepard had seen what Sovereign was capable of on Eden Prime and he still believed that it could be stopped. The fight with Shepard had left doubts in his mind as well as physical wounds. Shepard's omni-tool backhand had cracked his mandible and that biotic blast had messed up a few of his cybernetics. The human was as troublesome as the other one was all those years ago. He then felt his body was different, lighter and stronger and his biotics felt more powerful than ever.

Saren got off the table and walked to a wall before taking his synthetic arm and punching it. He made a dent in the wall. It was impressive since he wasn't using his biotics.

"Sovereign, what have you done to me?" Saren asked.

"I SENSED DOUBT IN YOUR MIND. THE HUMAN CALLED SHEPARD HAS BEEN TROUBLING YOU FOR SOME TIME NOW. THESE DOUBTS WERE UNACCEPTABLE. I RELIEVED YOU OFF THEM. I HAVE IMPLANTED ADVANCED CYBERNETICS TO REPLACE THE ONES THAT HAD BEEN DAMAGED. WE ARE LINKED. WE ARE NOW ONE, SAREN. THE STRENGTHS OF BOTH, WEAKNESSES OF NEITHER." Saren was in awe of the power he felt course through him. All doubt was gone from his mind now. He believed in Sovereign completely. He walked away to begin preparations to Ilos. It was time to herald the return of the Reapers.

* * *

**Okay I know this Chapter was not on par as the last two but hey, I believe that for a story to ****progress it needs some time to see the character's reactions.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Tell me what you think!**

**Good?**

**Bad?**

**Neutral?**


	35. Our Own Worst Enemy

Recap: "I SENSED DOUBT IN YOUR MIND. THE HUMAN CALLED SHEPARD HAS BEEN TROUBLING YOU FOR SOME TIME NOW. THESE DOUBTS WERE UNACCEPTABLE. I RELIEVED YOU OFF THEM. I HAVE IMPLANTED ADVANCED CYBERNETICS TO REPLACE THE ONES THAT HAD BEEN DAMAGED. WE ARE LINKED. WE ARE NOW ONE, SAREN. THE STRENGTHS OF BOTH, WEAKNESSES OF NEITHER." Saren was in awe of the power he felt course through him. All doubt was gone from his mind now. He believed in Sovereign completely. He walked away to begin preparations to Ilos. It was time to herald the return of the Reapers.

* * *

Now

* * *

Shepard walked up to the galaxy map having heard Joker's call to him.

"What's up Joker?" Shepard asked as he leaned on the rail, looking over the galaxy map.

"I forwarded the mission update to the Citadel, Shepard. We've got confirmation on those reinforcements." Joker replied causing Shepard's eyes to widen in surprise. He knew Valern and Tevos may have believed him, if only a little, but he never thought that they'd actually manage to convince Sparatus.

"Ambassador Udina wants us to report back to the Citadel. The Council is amassing a massive joint-species fleet to deal with Saren and his geth." Shepard's eyes narrowed at that. Saren and his geth? No mention of Sovereign at all. Something was wrong here. Shepard started thinking it over. The Council was probably not really taking it seriously. Then again on the off chance, he could just be nitpicking that one small detail. But sometimes one detail, no matter how big or how small, can make all the difference in a situation.

"Shepard?" Shepard looked up to see everyone looking at him. Apparently he had been deep in thought and hadn't answered.

"Back to the Citadel, Joker. I want the Normandy at the head of that fleet." He ordered absently before turning away to go to his room, still in thought. He had a feeling that he was going to be in some sort of mess as soon as he got to the Citadel.

"Yes, sir!" Joker replied before putting in the coordinates to the Citadel.

* * *

A few hours later...

* * *

The Normandy pulled into the Citadel docks once again. Inside, Shepard and company were walking to the airlock, dressed in their armor and had their preferred weapons holstered. As everyone else walked into the sterilization room, Shepard moved to where Joker was.

"Something on your mind Shepard?" Joker asked upon seeing him.

"Keep the engine running." Joker looked at him in confusion. Seeing this, Shepard elaborated.

"Look, I get the feeling that this isn't going to go like we think it will. I'm not fully confident in the Council and especially not when Udina's involved. So I'm telling you to be prepared to make a quick get away just in case." Joker's eyes widened briefly before giving a serious nod. He had trusted Shepard this far and had rarely seen him so cautious. He knew that this was going to be tense.

"Right, Shepard. I'll keep her prepped and ready." Shepard nodded and joined in with everyone inside the room.

* * *

Around an hour later with Joker

* * *

Joker kept the engine ready to go and kept his eyes peeled for Shepard and the gang until he was suddenly locked out of the Normandy's system.

"What the f-?" Joker muttered before he saw the docking clamps latch on and ground the Normandy.

'Shit!' Joker thought.

* * *

During that hour with Shepard and the team

* * *

Everyone had gotten into the nearest rapid transit and sped to the Citadel Tower. Shepard's paranoia was raised when he noticed that Anderson hadn't greeted them or contacted them at all since getting to the Citadel. Once at the Tower, everyone followed Shepard who made his way to the Council Chambers.

As he walked up the steps, he saw the Councilors at their podiums and Udina at the platform. Once Shepard got there, Udina spoke.

"Good job, Shepard. Thanks to you, the Council's finally taking real action against Saren!" Udina said with optimism. Shepard didn't speak, but merely raised an eyebrow at the human ambassador's confidence. He quickly looked to the Council for any explanation. Tevos spoke first.

"The ambassador is correct. If Saren is foolish enough to attack the Citadel-as you believe-we will be ready for him." Shepard rose his other eyebrow at her. Were they seriously thinking that Saren would attack them now? Is that why they started making this fleet? To protect themselves? Tevos looked to Sparatus, giving him a subtle signal to speak. Seeing this, the turian councilor straightened his posture and spoke with the confidence of a turian commander.

"Patrols are stationed at every mass relay linking Citadel space to the Terminus Systems." Was that it? Just a few patrols at the relays? At best that'll just tell them that he's crossing the galactic border somewhere!

"You think a blockade's going to stop him? He's on Ilos looking for the Conduit right now! What are you doing about that?" Shepard asked raising his voice slightly.

"Illos is only accessible through the Mu Relay, deep inside the Terminus Systems, Ghost. If we send a fleet in there, the only possible outcome is full-scale war." Valern replied back, finally speaking up. Before Shepard could say anything, Udina cut him off.

"Now is the time for discretion, Ghost. Saren's greatest weapon was secrecy. Exposed, he is no longer a threat. This is over." He said with an air of finality. Shepard glared at him.

"Secrecy isn't his greatest weapon. The Conduit is!" Shepard refuted.

"Saren is a master manipulator. The Conduit is just a distraction from his real plan to attack the Citadel." Valern spoke causing Shepard to look at him.

"Sovereign's the real threat! Saren is just a servant for the Reapers."

"Only you have seen the Reapers. And then only in visions. We don't invade the Terminus Systems because of a dream." Tevos said. Shepard inhaled and exhaled to calm his rising frustration.

"I can talk things over with Aria. One ship going into the Terminus Systems won't start a war. I can be discreet." Shepard reasoned, having directed his attention back to the Council.

"You detonated a nuclear device on Virmire. I wouldn't call that discreet!" Sparatus said pointing at Shepard.

"Only because it was Captain Kirrahe's plan! He's STG and they're supposed to be the very definition of discreet. Or did that change during my little hunt for Saren?" Shepard shot back crossing his arms.

"Either way," Tevos, ever the mediator, jumped in, "your style served you well in the Traverse, Ghost. We recognize that. But Ilos requires a deft touch. We have the situation under control." Shepard's eye twitched. They have no idea what's coming and they think they have control over it? Oh please!

"If Saren finds the Conduit, we are all screwed! We have to go to Ilos!" Shepard implored. The Councilors stayed silent for moment before Sparatus looked at Udina.

"Ambassador Udina, I get the sense that Ghost isn't willing to let this go." Shepard almost wanted to tell him he was damn right he wasn't but that would've been pointless.

"There are serious political ramifications here, Shepard. Humanity's made great gains thanks to you, but now you are becoming more trouble than you're worth." Udina said. Shepard got the message loud in clear as well as his team.

"You bastard! You're selling us out!" Ashley accused. The rest of the team was scowling at the human ambassador, or in Tali's case, glaring. Udina didn't even flinch at the looks he was getting.

"It's just politics. You've done your job, now let me do mine-"

"Shut up." Everyone quieted down as a cold voice echoed off the walls in the chambers. Udina and the Councilors looked at Shepard in shock at his words while the team remained silent and stoic having gotten used to Shepard's behavior by now even though they were also in mild shock. Granted they knew he could be disrespectful but they never thought that he would actually be like this in front of them.

"I beg your-" Udina began to say before Shepard cut him off.

"I said shut up." Shepard approached Udina until they were nose-to-nose with Shepard having an inch over the man. This time Udina actually did flinch at how close Shepard in his face.

"Don't think for a second that you, or them," Shepard nodded to the Council, "have any power over me. No one, not even Aria really, has it. You can't stop me. I was going after Saren before you and them even thought of it in the first place." Shepard softly spoke so only Udina could really hear him. He then turned to leave and walked down the steps.

"We've locked out all the Normandy's primary systems. Until further notice, you're grounded." Udina said making Shepard stop. Udina smirked briefly thinking he got the drop on Shepard before it was wiped off by Shepard's response.

"Not for long." Shepard replied without looking back before continuing on with his team following after him.

* * *

Presently

* * *

Shepard was leaning against his personal locker on the Normandy, lightly throwing a rubber ball at the wall and catching it as it bounced back before repeating the action. He let everyone off for some shore leave since they obviously weren't going anywhere soon. He knew the Council would backslide on him like this, but he hadn't expected them to lock down his own ship. He was silently berating himself for having not thought of it before letting it go. Still, he was burned up on the inside having to see that they were basically trapped on this damned station when they should be half way to Ilos right now. Suddenly the frustration built up in him was released as he threw the rubber ball with more force than was necessary causing it to explode on impact. Even the wall was dented by the force used in the throw.

'Whoops. Joker's gonna kill me.' Shepard mildly thought before shrugging and closing his eyes. This was the scene that Liara and Ashley came in on when they heard the loud pop from the ball.

"How you holding up, skipper?" Ashley asked causing Shepard to lazily open one eye to look at them.

"This isn't over yet." He said before closing his eye.

"You're an optimist, Shepard. I guess we'll have to consider this to be humanity's learning experience." Shepard smirked at her droll response.

"We'll figure it out. We have to. Can I count you two to be there?" Both nodded even though he didn't see it. Ashley sighed before speaking again.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to get to know. So I'll do you a favor, just this once." She said before giving a peck on Shepard's cheek causing Shepard open both eyes in surprise.

"I- We want you to be happy. Whatever you need, we'll help." Ashley said with a light tint of pink on her cheeks and Liara's cheeks turned slightly purple.

"Shepard... I cannot believe they did this to you. I am sorry." Liara apologized making Ashley look at her in confusion and Shepard to look at her.

"Its not your fault." Liara shook her head.

"Its not right. You did everything they asked and more! Nobody else could've done what you did!" Liara said with her voice getting more passionate. Shepard looked at her with great interest, waiting for her to finish what she wanted to say.

"The Council owes you everything. Everything! Instead, they strip you of your command and ground the Normandy." Shepard gave her a sly smile.

"To be honest, I don't care if they ground me, but they refuse to go after Saren. If they don't stop him from finding the Conduit, we're all dead. But I'm working on a plan to correct that. Honestly though, I just want a break, but I can't get that when I know Saren's location."

"So, what? Are you giving up?" Liara said making Ashley look at him now.

"No. We may be out of the game for the moment, but I'll find a way back in." Shepard said before he felt Liara kiss his cheek. He almost broke into a cold sweat when he realized that this just happened in front of Ash. He steadily braced himself for the fight that would happen until he noticed Ashley was completely calm.

"That's what I like to hear. We're with you every step of the way. We believe in you." Liara said, obviously pleased. Shepard was even more confused now. They weren't using 'I' but instead they used 'we'. Both women walked out of the room giggling at his expression. Giggling! He could accept Liara giggling, but Ashley? He didn't even think those words could be put in the same sentence without punch being involved somehow. Could they actually be getting along now? That thought made a cold jolt go through his spine.

Before he could think on it more, Tali came barreling in with Ashley and Liara following her, looking bewildered at her entrance.

"Shepard come on! Its Garrus!" She said frantically causing Shepard to push off the wall.

"What? What happened?" Tali ran up to him and with surprising strength for her size, the quarian started pulling him to the stairs.

"He's been hurt!"

"What?!" Shepard asked as he began to run with her. What the hell happened?

A few minutes later Shepard, as well as the girls, had made it to Garrus outside the Normandy and what he saw made him angry. Garrus was sitting on the ground clad in his armor and weapons but he was beaten up pretty badly. He had cracks on his carapace and even had a little blood here and there. Kaidan was beside him looking him over while Wrex just watched with his arms crossed. Shepard could tell the krogan was more than a little annoyed at the situation.

"What the hell happened to you, Garrus?" Shepard asked as he kneeled beside him.

"I had been talking to this human negotiator who needed some kind of neural stimulant for this negotiation going on with the salarians. He was convinced that his assistant would be able to handle it since he was, in his words, an alien sympathizer. He believed he needed to be there to show the salarians who was in charge. It became apparent to me that he was an addict and I talked him down from it, take treatment and to allow his assistant to take charge. After that I walked around, heard the news about how the deal went which was mutually beneficial to both parties and suddenly I got ambushed by 5 humans. Said I meddled in their affairs deliberately to help the salarians. Said I cost them a few billion credits because the assistant took over and gave an even deal with the 'aliens'."

Shepard was pissed off before he began talking.

"Did they mention anything else?" He asked in a tight tone. Garrus mulled it over for a minute before blinking in realization.

"Yeah, they mentioned someone named Charles Saracino." Shepard rose an eyebrow at the name before getting out his omni-tool. He typed the name in and the man's profile came up.

"Charles Saracino, leader of the Terra Firma party. Oh great." He said in annoyance while Ashley muttered 'Jackals' at the group name.

"What do we do? report this to C-Sec?" Kaidan asked. Garrus answered as he got up.

"Don't bother. Without any real evidence besides my word, they won't look into it and even if they did, this politician guy good easily claim to not be aware of his men's actions."

"And so what? Let them get away with it?" Tali asked.

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Shepard said as he began typing on his omni-tool. Suddenly someone's face showed up on the screen.

"Shepard! What do you need?"

"Hey Chun, how are you?" Shepard asked making everyone look at him, wondering who he was talking to.

"Oooh can't complain. Chora's Den has been making me lots of credits but it's beginning to get a little stale in here."

"That's what happens when you spend so much time in one place." Shepard mildly chastised.

"Oh well. So what do you need?"

"How do you feel about radicals?"

"Are you talking about Terra Firma?" Shepard blinked in surprise.

"How did you know?"

"They're on the station. Something about getting their leader a seat in the Alliance Parliament or something like that. They've been harassing my girls here and I'm not happy about it." Shepard's eyebrows rose in fear. Whenever Chun wasn't happy, things tended to get broken.

"But what pisses me off even more is the fact I may lose business if I do something about them."

"And what if I told you I had a solution?"

"Let me guess, they did something to someone you know?" Shepard nodded.

"And I'm not a happy either, so here's the plan..."

* * *

An hour later (Inspired and similar to scene from the 1983 movie: Porky's 2. All credit goes to them, just as anything else in this goes to the owners accordingly.)

* * *

Shepard and company were gathered together in a dark room waiting.

"What's the point of this?" Wrex grunted.

"You'll see soon enough." Shepard replied before a door opened up with Chun leading a group of human men inside, including Charles Saracino.

"So where's Shepard?" Saracino asked before Chun closed the door and the room was pitch black again.

"What the-?" A spot light lit over and shined on both the Terra Firma party and Shepard and his team. The team was clad in their armor looking intimidating while Shepard wasn't wearing any of his, was sitting down in a chair looking as relaxed as he could be. Chun was right beside him in his morning suit and glasses.

"Afternoon, gentlemen." Shepard said with his team giving as serious of greetings themselves which were no more than grunts. The only exception was Chun who said howdy.

"Thought you liked to meet a friend of our's." Garrus walked out from behind Wrex and Kaidan, giving stone cold glare to them as some of them laughed at him.

"Yeah, I remember him." One snorted. He was older than the others if his grey hair was any indication.

"You did a mighty fine job on him!" The one beside him said, nudging him.

"And I didn't even ask for a tip for the trim!" The other said causing the rest to laugh save for Saracino who never took his eyes off Shepard. He knew they were in trouble now.

"Well now, in leu of a tip why don't we just return the favor?" Shepard asked looking smug. This caused the others to stop laughing and look at him in confusion.

"What? What did you say?"

"Why don't we give you a trim?" Shepard clarified.

"Oh you snot-noses aren't going to give us a trim!" He said pointing to Shepard and then themselves before laughing.

"Us and few of our friends." Shepard replied smirking. The man who had been speaking pointed to the group.

"You and these friends here?" He asked before laughing with the group.

"Well you better bring the army boy. You better bring the whole fucking army." Shepard smiled as if he was hoping he said that.

"Well actually we have something slightly different in mind."

"Oh yeah?" Shepard nodded and raised his arm.

"Oh yeah." He snapped his fingers and the room lit up. What the lights revealed was something that made the Terra Firma party go deathly quiet. They saw that they were in what must have been an old court. For what, they didn't know nor care once they saw what, or specifically who was sitting on the bleachers. Non-humans. A lot of them. Including asari, turians, salarians, even a few krogan. All of them were glaring at the radicals with their arms crossed. The radicals however were looking around with ever growing fear.

"Ah shit! Look all them fucking aliens!" They continued to look at them while the spokesman started getting more and more scared. The crowd's general expression hadn't changed.

"Oh shit. That's a lot of aliens." Shepard and his group started chuckling at their expressions.

"They're not happy. These aliens aren't happy." The spokesman muttered looking at the ground now, sweating. They tried to back away but Shepard stood up from his chair and grabbed the spokesman.

"Well now, don't be shy." Shepard said as he led the man to the chair and practically shoved him into it.

"Now in consideration of your obvious status in your party, we've thought of something very special for all of you." Shepard gestured to Chun. "Now, I'd like to meet a friend of mine. This is Chun and he dabbles in the religion of Judaism and he will be our mohel for the day." (Weren't expecting this were ya?) Shepard turned to the Terra Firma group to see one of them mouth 'what the hell's a mohel'

"And what you ask is a mohel? Well, a mohel is a jewish barber." Shepard stated causing himself, and the humans in his group to laugh while the non-humans didn't understand.

"But not exactly." Chun said still smirking. Shepard smacked the spokesman shoulder.

"Go ahead, ask him." He commanded. The spokesman hesitated before asking.

"Alright what the hell is a mohel?" Chun grabbed a box, opened it and took a small clamp-like object out of it.

"I'm glad you asked. See a mohel is someone who performs a bris." Chun said observing the metal object.

"What the fuck is a bris?" The spokesman asked getting more nervous. Shepard decided to answer.

"Well, a mohel is someone who performs a bris or in more common terms... a circumcision!" Shepard said having an evil smile.

"And this," Chun said gesturing to the object, "I'm sure you've already guessed." He made it do a snip sound causing the radicals eyes to widen and fear. The non-humans of the group finally understood what might happen now and on instinct, Garrus and Wrex backed away from Chun.

"Now this has been used to chop off hundreds of foreskins." Chun said putting the clamp in front of the mans face.

"Hundreds." Shepard echoed.

"Hundreds." Chun confirmed.

"Amen." Ashley said with grin making Shepard and Kaidan snicker.

"So what better way to shave the heads of a bunch of pricks like you?" Chun asked. The spokesman jumped out of the chair.

"The fuck you will!" He said.

"Alright thats-" Saracino said as him and everyone else looked to leave until their audience stood up. The radicals froze knowing what would happen if they even tried to move to the door. Saracino looked around and gestured to the chair.

"Sit down." He commanded his spokesman who reluctantly did so. As he sat down, all the non-humans took their seats again.

"Line up boys." Shepard replied as Chun got his instrument ready. Saracino nodded and tried to negotiate.

"Ok, ok now. Let's talk this over. This is getting out of hand. So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. We're gonna let you off this time with a warning. Deal?" He said with some of his members nodding. The spokesman looked at Shepard from his seat.

"Now that sounds fair. You got to admit that is fair?" The spokesman said nervously. Everyone looked like they were mulling it over before going "Nah." Shepard looked at the group with a smile on his face.

"Line up boys." He reiterated.

"We will certainly have to retire this instrument after this job." Chun stated with a smug grin making them chuckle.

* * *

Two hours later...

* * *

Shepard walked into Flux and immediately spotted Anderson. A few minutes ago, Joker called him and told him that Anderson wanted to meet him at Flux. Shepard almost didn't recognize Anderson considering he wasn't in his dress blues but rather Alliance fatigues. Guess to help make it a better cover or was he really taken down that far? He walked to the table and overheard some patrons talking about the group of humans who ran through the wards naked. Shepard smirked knowing exactly who they were talking about. He quickly moved his attention back to Anderson and sat down at the table.

"I'm glad you came, Shepard. I heard what happened." Anderson said as he poured Shepard a drink.

"The Normandy's been grounded" Shepard stated before drinking. Anderson nodded.

"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to warn you but there was no way to get a message to you before you docked. I know you're pissed off right now, but you can't give up. They all think this is over, but we both know it's not. You have to go to Ilos. you have to stop Saren from using the Conduit!" Anderson said. Shepard sighed.

"That's the thing Anderson. There's only one ship that get me there undetected and she's grounded."

"Citadel control's locked out all of the Normandy's systems." Shepard nodded.

"Yeah, Udina mentioned that."

"But if we override the ambassador's orders we can get them to bring the Normandy back online. You can be in the Terminus Systems before anyone even knows you're gone." Shepard thought it over.

"Hmmm the only places we could do that would be at the Citadel control center or Udina's office in the presidium. If we steal the Normandy, you're the one holding the bag though." Shepard said thinking it over.

"And if Saren finds the Conduit, life as we know it is over. The Reapers will destroy us. Humans, asari, everybody!" Anderson countered even though he knew Shepard knew the stakes. Anderson could still some reluctance in Shepard's eyes, however.

"You're the only one who can stop him, Shepard. So I'll do whatever it takes to get you on the Normandy and off this station."

"Stealing the Normandy is considered mutiny. What if the crew won't help me?" Shepard knew that despite the time he had spent with them, he wasn't Alliance. He wasn't the one they would normally give their loyalty to. They only took his command because they were ordered to. Didn't they?

"The Normandy's your ship now, Shepard. Her crew will follow you to the ends of the galaxy. We both know that." Anderson said with a small smile. Shepard felt one beginning to form on his lips too. Anderson was right, of course. And he knew them far better than Shepard did.

"Okay. What's the plan?" Anderson leaned over the table, his voice lower than before.

"I can unlock the Normandy from one of the consoles in the Citadel control center, like you said. You'll have a few minutes before anyone realizes what's happened." Shepard shook his head.

"That's a restricted area patrolled by armed guards. How are you going to get in?" Shepard asked leaning in as well. He knew he could probably do it with Isaac but even then it would be difficult to do. Anderson won't have much of a chance.

"Leave that to me. Just make sure you're in the Normandy when the systems come back online." Shepard shook his head no.

"There's got to be a better way." Shepard stated.

"Ambassador Udina did issue the lockdown order. If I can hack into the computer in his office, maybe I can override it." Anderson suggested.

"You know he won't stand by and let you use his computer."

"Hopefully he won't be there. If he is, I'll just have to think of something." Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Udina won't forgive this, Anderson. You might be charged with treason. Are you really ready for that?" Shepard asked. Anderson looked at his drink with a grimace before looking back at Shepard.

"We don't have a lot of options. I break into the ambassador's computer, or I take my chances with the patrols in Citadel control." He stated as he swished his drink inside the glass. Shepard sighed before finishing off his drink and getting out of his seat.

"You'll have a better chance of breaking into that prick's computer." Shepard said before tossing a small OSD. Anderson caught it.

"I was hoping you'd say that. The ambassador's made this personal. What is this?" Anderson asked looking at the OSD.

"Something that'll help with the computer's security."

"You were already planning this weren't you?" Shepard smirked.

"Maybe." Anderson chuckled at him before downing his drink and rising from his chair.

"You ready to get the hell of this station, Ghost?" Shepard's smirk turned into a grin.

"Been ready since I docked." Anderson nodded.

"I'll take care of the lockdown. You get down to the Normandy and tell Joker to stand by." Anderson ordered before walking away. Shepard immediately got on his omni-tool and signaled for his crew to drop whatever they were doing and to get aboard the Normandy.

* * *

With Anderson

* * *

It felt somewhat empowering to walk forward through the presidium knowing what he was about to do. He wouldn't admit it, but he was silently hoping the Udina was there just so he could punch him. He glanced at the OSD Shepard had given him before he came up to the Ambassador's office. The door slid open and he saw the smug politician typing away on his terminal. Immediately Anderson felt anger course through him as he marched up to the man. Udina noticed his entrance.

"Anderson? What are you doing here? I didn't send for- ghuh!" Anderson closed the distance between the two and socked the politician with a strong right hook. The blow knocked the man unconscious. A small part of him swelled with pride knowing he still had it as he sat down and began typing. Looks like he wouldn't need Shepard's OSD after all.

He sent the order swiftly to bring the Normandy's systems back online as he heard Udina start to rouse.

'The rest is up to you now, Shepard. Good luck.' He thought before he heard Udina start to yell at him.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Normandy

* * *

Shepard and Joker were both in the cockpit, waiting for the green light to go. Joker was rubbing his fingers out of tense boredom before glancing at Shepard. Shepard hadn't taken his eyes of the red light which indicated they were still a no go. Suddenly the red switched to green and they heard the clamps detach from the ship.

"Let's go. Get us out of here Joker. Now!" Shepard ordered before he zoomed toward the galaxy map to place in the coordinates to Ilos. Joker nodded and smirked before his fingers danced on the controls.

The Normandy backed out of the docks and quickly flew out of the Citadel and towards the relay. A few ships broke form the fleet and flew after her, nearly opening fire just before she hit the relay. The Normandy was gone.

"The Normandy has gone through the relay. Permission to pursue?" A turian pilot requested over the comm.

"Unnecessary. It's just one ship. Let it go and return to the fleet." A feminine voice replied from the Destiny Ascension.

"Understood, Matriarch Lidanya. Retuning now." The pilot replied before he and his squadron flew back to the fleet. On the Destiny Ascension, the commanding officer, Matriarch Lidanya, looked to the one who gave her the order.

"Madame Councilor, are you sure it was wise to let them go like that?" She asked. Behind her Councilor Tevos smiled.

"Yes, I do believe it would be best. They have been hunting Saren for some time now and not only that, but I don't believe Shepard wouldn't have put up such a fuss unless he had a good reason to. Besides, I doubt they would make much of a difference here instead of being out there. Isn't that what you believed Councilor Valern?" The salarian in question walked up beside her, nodding.

"Yes. Ghost's abilities are best put to use on the field. And if anything, he will at least slow Saren down." Valern said. They had only managed to get sparatus to agree to make the fleet but he wouldn't budge on anything else. So they had to improvise this time and go behind their fellow councilor's back. Not to mention the manipulation of the patrols in the Citadel control center, but apparently Ghost and Anderson thought differently. Oh well, no real harm done.

* * *

Back on the Normandy

* * *

"Aw damn it. No sign of pursuit? I was hoping the Council would send some ships after us. I was looking forward to putting the Normandy through its paces. Figured I'd get to see what this ship can really do." Joker griped in disappointment.

"Saren's still out there. Maybe we'll get a chance to play hide-and-seek with Sovereign." Shepard replied back dryly.

"You know, it doesn't seem like much fun when you say it, Shepard. So the coordinates are in?"

"Were in before we hit the relay. Ain't that right Pressly?" Shepard said looking toward the Normandy's navigator.

"Yes, sir." Pressly said with an excited undertone which Shepard caught.

"You sound excited." Pressly nodded.

"I won't lie, I can't believe we stole the Normandy! I know we'll all be court-martialed if this doesn't work out. But part of me loves this!" Shepard nodded with a grin.

"There always is a little excitement of doing something you're not supposed to." Shepard chuckled before walking down. There was no mutiny at all. He gave them the chance to leave before Anderson went to Udina. None left. Shepard was humbled by their loyalty. If was going to make it count. He made it to the mess where he saw Chakwas and Adams talking at one of the tables.

"Heard we're heading into the Terminus Systems, Shepard. Don't worry, sir. The Normandy's a hell of a ship. She'll get us through this." Engineer Adams said upon noticing him.

"I can think of no other ship that could do so."

"Its strange, being a fugitive from the Alliance. This crew has sacrificed everything for you, Shepard. Don't let us down." Chakwas said bringing his attention to her. He could see that she made a pretty tough decision staying with him on this mission if the sad look in her eyes was any indication.

"I won't." He said with all his resolve. That seemed to lift Chakwas' spirits.

"Good." That was when Tali came in.

"We're fugitives on the run. Very exciting Shepard. I wonder what the Council will do to us if we get caught?" Tali wondered aloud.

"You think your father has some political pull? I don't think he'd let his little girl stay in jail." Shepard said teasingly which Tali seemed to miss. She crossed her arms.

"You don't know my father. Stealing ships is a capital offense among my people. He'd probably want to execute us himself." Shepard gritted and looked away briefly thinking about how much trouble Tali would be in if her father found out. He looked back at her with some confidence.

"The Normandy's the best ship in the fleet. They'll never catch us." He said proudly. Tali nodded. It didn't hold her usual energetic personality though.

"I hope you're right." She said before walking back to the elevator. Liara passed by on her way to the med-bay. Shepard briefly wondered where Benezia was before remembering the dropped her off on the Citadel. It was her choice of course and it was before they made the plan to escape, but Shepard hoped she was alright.

"This will all be over soon Shepard. One way or another." Liara said in passing.

"Yeah? Well, it'll be our way if I have anything to say." Shepard said back causing her to smile a little. He knew it wasn't easy for her. She was obviously worrying about her mother and herself. They both had committed treason now, even Benezia was free of her charges she could still catch some backlash from this.

"Stealing an Alliance ship. Risky stuff. But I'm right behind you, Shepard. It's the least I can do." Wrex said coming up from behind him. The krogan seemed to be taking it the best out of everyone here.

"Everyone else thinks I'm crazy" Shepard stated blandly thinking of everyone else's reactions. The krogan merely smirked at him.

"Sometimes crazy is the way to go. I just hope they don't catch us before we get our hands on Saren." Wrex said as his smirk was replaced with a serious visage.

"They won't" Shepard stated with conviction.

"With you, anything's possible." Wrex said nodding before moving to the fridge to get some food. That was when Garrus came from around the corner.

"I can't believe we stole the Normandy. After everything you told me... It seems a bit extreme, don't you think?" Garrus asked thinking that maybe what they did was wrong.

"Stealing the Normandy is a trivial risk compared to the threat of Saren." Shepard stated which made Garrus nod.

"Yeah I suppose you're right. If your wrong, we'll pay for it. But if you're right and did nothing... I think we'll regret it a whole lot more. I just hope we can catch Saren before they realize we're missing." Shepard hmmed at Garrus' hopeful thinking.

"We'll catch him just be ready when we do." Shepard replied before walking to his room. He had already Ashley's and Kaidan's responses. They approved it knowing what would happen if they didn't.

The hours rolled by as Shepard got his equipment and made sure it was ready. All mods and upgrades accounted for and installed in his armor and weapons. His bio-amp was ready to go as always as well as his omni-tool. He could only hope everyone else had done the same for their own equipment. knowing that there was no one else listening in Shepard talked to Isaac.

"Isaac, you ready for this?"

"As ready as I can be." Shepard looked down at the floor and gave a mirthless chuckle.

"I never thought we would be roped into this. Did you?"

"No. I never thought I would ever have to fight my own kind." Shepard's eyes narrowed.

"They're not your kind Isaac."

"They are synthetics."

"But they are not your kind, Isaac. I'm an organic, but you won't see me being lumped in with asari or any other non-humans. The geth are different from Sovereign, who is incredibly different from you. If you want, you can call yourself a 'human-synthetic'. But you are not them, Isaac. You don't seek genocide." Isaac was quiet for a few seconds longer after Shepard's words. He had always thought that his artificiality was what defined him from others. Was what linked him to the geth and Sovereign, but then... Shepard was right. Isaac had gained an admiration to life during his time with Shepard and wanted to continue to see that life flourish. Life which Sovereign and the geth would destroy.

Isaac realized what had truly defined, divided and united all races: Belief. It wasn't shape, size, race or background which made people who they were. It was their beliefs. Their choices and opinions. What they held dear or acceptable. Maybe if the geth had realized this, and had the quarians been open-minded, maybe synthetics wouldn't be so persecuted like today.

"You're right, Shepard. I'd rather not let Sovereign win. I like this galaxy as it is, for the moment. I'd rather not see it purged. We'll stop him, even if it's the last thing we do." Shepard smiled at his longtime friend.

"Whatever comes our way, we'll grab onto it, kick its ass or go down fighting." That was when Shepard felt something at his door. Isaac noticed Shepard's reaction and quickly turned silent. The door opened to reveal Ashley and Liara behind it. Both walked in.

"Shepard? May we speak with you?" Liara asked.

"Hey you two. What brings you here?" Shepard asked getting up from his bed and walking to them.

"We've been thinking about you... and what we are about to face." Liara said as her cheeks went purple and she looked away slightly.

"I do not know what is going to happen once we get Ilos. I hope we will stop Saren, of course. But part of me fears we are already too late. There is something I-we must tell you. In case we fail."

"We're not going to fail. I promise." Shepard with a strong voice hoping to comfort her distress. Liara must have noticed this because she got an annoyed look.

"Please, I'm not looking for comfort. Saren might've already found the Conduit. It is time to be completely honest with each other. These could be our last moments together." Shepard looked to Ashley for anything she might've wanted to say. Seeing this, she spoke.

"I'm not a 'word person,' Shepard. Other people say what I mean better than I do. We're mutineers, sailing a stolen warship into the most hostile system in the galaxy. I couldn't blame the Council for calling us reckless or aggressive." Shepard looked at her a raised eyebrow.

"Just a few months ago you would have." He teased. She blushed and looked away.

"I've had some things to think about since coming aboard." She said before quoting from one of her favorite poems. Liara thought it was beautiful and seemed to fit Shepard perfectly.

"We'll get home again, Shepard. I believe you'll lead us through. 'O Captain. My Captain.'" Shepard closed his eyes and smiled. First Alfred Tennyson and now Walt Whitman. Ashley always managed to surprise him. He thought things over the past few weeks. He knew they accepted what was going to happen if they survived this. That he would go back and be a father. That they would most likely never see each other again. He knew neither of them wanted that. He FELT it. So after fighting off his feelings for the last few months, he caved and gave in. If this was to be their last time, why should it be spent being alone? He knew what he was going to do would be incredibly selfish. For all of them. But now...

"Is that all you see in me?" He asked them which they gave him a questioning look.

"I know you know I can't give what you want. What I want." They looked down sadly. He was going to reject them again. They knew he probably would but they thought together he would-

"But I can give you one night. If you'll have it." They looked at him with hope in their eyes which was reflected back through his. Liara moved first and claimed his lips. Shepard's focus was brought on her as he reciprocated back with equal passion. He wondered what Ashley was doing before he felt someone sucking on his neck and grabbing his ass.

'Hmph. Two can play that game.' He thought before grabbing her tight ass which she moaned out before resuming her attack on his neck. As Shepard felt them tugging his clothes his last thoughts of were how fun the next hour would be.

* * *

**I'm back (Fans point all kinds of guns at him.) Whoa, whoa! Hey kill me and you definitely won't see the end to this story! (Fans point there guns away from him, but still keep them ready.) Whew!**

**Alright, now I know you guys are pissed or are going what took you so long. To tell the truth, I got burned out. Everyday I tried to get back into it but I couldn't I lost my spark! But now after having to actually talk with HayabusaDragonForce and looking back at the reviews I had gotten especially the one from whomever GM is, (thank you for that by the way I love reviews like that, it always helps) MY SPARK IS BACK AND I'M WRITING AGAIN. I fully intend to finish this story just so you know and if you want me to write faster, just do what everyone else did during the Virmire Arc. Post Reviews that are more than 4! Also for the next chapter, you want a lemon, send it in! I'm not good at those.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter will continue to read this story and hopefully take a look at my Dragon Age story. It's not as good as the games but it is acceptable.**

**Please Review and have a good. And just because I feel so great today here's a little something for the people who were born on this day or have someone they care about who was born today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!**


	36. Race Against Time

Recap: 'Hmph. Two can play that game.' He thought before grabbing her tight ass which she moaned out before resuming her attack on his neck. As Shepard felt them tugging his clothes his last thoughts of were how fun the next hour would be.

* * *

Now

* * *

It had been roughly an hour since Ashley and Liara had walked into Shepard's room. Inside, Shepard was putting his boots on and getting off the bed before leaning on the computer and looking at the two beautiful, nude women in his bed. Shepard was particularly pleased with himself by the content looks they had on their faces. Practically glowing really. Liara had managed to enhance it by melding all three of their of nervous systems briefly. Poor Ash could barely handle it since it was her first time with an asari in the mix.

Liara and Ashley managed to take turns which made it last longer, though there were definitely no complains coming from them or him for the matter. Especially not with all the positions they let him take them in. Movement caught his eye and saw Liara rousing from her peaceful slumber. She got on her elbows before raising into a sitting position, the cover falling of her bust. Shepard glanced at the revealed flesh before looking into her eyes.

"By the Goddess. That was incredible, Shepard." She said breathlessly. Shepard smirked.

"Ready for round two?" He asked with a grin. Liara giggled at him.

"Shepard!" She mockingly chastised which made him chuckle. Ashley woke up from their giggling and smiled at them.

"Well now. That's a whole new spin for 'on the floor and give me twenty,' hmm?" She prompted giggling at the end with Liara joining her. Shepard merely smiled as he joined the sound. Like music to his ears. He was suddenly aware of the wave of calm over him. He still remembered what they needed to do. What situation they were in, but he honestly didn't feel any dread like he had before. Nor was it as palpable as it was outside the room.

"Would you roll your eyes if I said this is the first time in months I've felt that all's right in the galaxy?" Shepard asked absently. Both women looked at him in shock before Liara blushed and looked away shyly while Ashley giggled again.

"Yes." She said, drawing out yes teasingly. The moment was broken by Joker's voice over the intercom.

"Bridge to Shepard. We're five minutes out from the Mu Relay." Shepard sighed, knowing that there was no getting back into the moment with that piece of information. Oh well, he just had to thankful he had it in the first place, he supposed.

"I had better go. Duty calls. You would not want to keep Joker waiting." Liara said putting on her uniform which was pretty fast. Before she walked through the door she stopped and turned to him.

"Shepard, whatever happens on Ilos, I just wanted to say... thank you. For everything." With that she walked out without waiting for his reply. Shepard looked at Ashley who already had her shirt on and was putting on her pants.

"Duty calls. Get up to the bridge, skipper. I've got other weapons to check out." Ashley said before she put her boots on. They both walked out of his room and made to where the stars met the elevator.

"Hey, Shepard?" Shepard had his foot on the first step as he turned to Ashley who was waiting for the elevator. She seemed to be much more nervous than just a few seconds ago.

"Yes?" He prompted.

"Whatever happens down there, I just wanted to say..." She paused before she smiling at him as if she just thought of something. "Wait. You know what? I'm not telling you. You want to hear this, you'll just have to come back to me." Shepard arched an eyebrow before smiling at her.

"Okay, but you have to be here for me to come back to." Shepard chirped before running up the stairs to the bridge. He could hear Ashley snort at his reaction on the way up.

* * *

The Normandy zoomed towards the Mu Relay, ancient but working properly. The vessel flew along the edge of it, dwarfed by its massive size. Passing the gyroscopic rings, a bolt of energy struck the Normandy, encasing the ship with a blue aura before it suddenly shot out and disappeared. Almost immediately, it exited out of the relay network in the Refuge System. Inside the Normandy, the cockpit was filled to capacity with Joker at the helm, Shepard right next to him on his left, Tali just behind Shepard, Liara to Tali's right, Kaidan behind Liara, Ashley behind Tali, and Navigator Pressly looking over a terminal just behind Ashley. Shepard was the only one suited up currently.

"Wow, so that's Ilos huh?" Shepard asked seeing the planet. Apparently, during the golden age of the Protheans, Ilos was a verdant world, dotted with the spires and arches of magnificent cities. Even casual observation showed this was no longer the case. Ilos has been devastated by means unknown, its entire surface changed to the color of rust. Shepard looked at the Normandy's analysis computer to see any other atmosphere showed heightened levels of oxygen. Even from this distance, Shepard could see the wildfires, presumably ignited by lightning strikes, burning on the dark side of the planet. This indicated that most - if not all - respirating animal life forms have died off. The analysis showed that the planets surface gravity was a comfortable 1.17 standard G's. Pretty close to Earth's own gravity.

That was when the Normandy's sensors picked up multiple ships orbiting the planet.

"Uh... Shepard? We've got company." Joker said as he quickly input some commands into his terminal and the Normandy began running silently.

"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked in alarm.

"Stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here." Joker reassured as they came closer and closer to the geth fleet, no it was a flotilla. It was composed of a couple of dreadnoughts, but nothing else. Shepard wondered where the rest of the fleet was. Saren had to have had more than this much at his command. More for that matter, where was Sovereign? They weren't picking him up at all in space or on the planet below. They did, however, find Saren on the planet's surface.

"Picking up some strange readings from the surface." Pressly spoke as he continued to read over his computer.

"Take us down, Joker. Lock in on the coordinates." Shepard ordered knowing that it had to be where Saren was. Pressly turned to him.

"Negative on that, Shepard. The nearest landing zone's two clicks away." Shepard grit his teeth. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Ashley turned to Pressly, her temper started to flare.

"We'll never make it in time on foot. Get us something closer!" She ordered with her voice rising.

"There is nowhere closer! I've looked!" Pressly shot back with equal temper. Shepard thought it over. If there was nowhere the Normandy could near Saren, then maybe...

"Drop us in the mako." Everyone turned to him before looking at Pressly who hadn't taken his eyes of the screen. Pressly shook his head.

"You'd need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that. The most I can find near Saren is twenty." Ashley gasped at the amount of space while Kaidan's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Twenty meters? No way we can make a drop in there" Kaidan said, dismissing the idea immediately.

"We have to try." Liara urged.

"Find another landing zone!" Ashley ordered Pressly who turned to look at her.

"There is no other landing zone!" He stressed back. Shepard was getting annoyed at the argument brewing. He couldn't think of what to do.

"The descent angle's too steep!" Tali said, trying to back up Pressly.

"It's our only option!" Liara urged again to Kaidan.

"It's not an option! It's a suicide run! We don't-!" Kaidan began to argue before he was cut off by someone no one expected to talk.

"I can do it." Everyone looked at the helmsman.

"Joker?" Shepard prompted. Was Joker bluffing or was he being serious?

"I can do it." Joker repeated. Shepard nodded seeing the resolve in his friend. He turned to his teammates.

"Gear up and head down to the mako. Tell Wrex and Garrus too." He turned back to Joker as everyone nodded and did as they were ordered. "Joker. Drop us on top of that bastard!" Shepard turned around and followed after his team. The Normandy flew down to Ilos, bypassing the geth flotilla without any resistance whatsoever. Straight for the coordinates. Joker took of his cap as he sweated slightly. This was going to rough.

* * *

On Ilos' surface

* * *

The time had come. It had taken a few days to get things up and running again, but the geth had done it. The systems in the area were rebooted and working within acceptable ranges. Now was the time to activate the Conduit. Now was the time for the Reapers to come back. Saren felt no doubt at all that this would work. He was deadly on his own. With Sovereign and the geth, he was a force that could take worlds. With the upgrades given to him by Sovereign... he was near invincible. A part of his mind suddenly flashed and remembered the human, Shepard. The one human who seemed to have garnered the galaxy's attention. Even gaining the attention of Sovereign himself.

He had hoped that Shepard would come here. So he could battle him and test his new abilities. To him, Shepard was the only fitting opponent. He tried to test his abilities on some of his forces, but they never really lasted long, save for the last few cloned krogan he had and even then they never got close. But Shepard hadn't arrived. Was he too afraid? Or was he delayed by something? It matters not, for in the end, the Reapers would come anyway and Shepard would be unable to stop them. No matter what abilities or resources he has at his disposal. He ordered his geth troops to follow him to the Conduit. A whole battalion consisting of troopers and armatures walked alongside him as they made their way to the tunnel that leads to the Conduit.

Sovereign had already left Ilos to begin the first phase of their plan along with most of their forces. The scant few that were left here with him were to be the infiltration group and to make sure no one would be able to follow them. He briefly looked at the statues and wondered what the Protheans were doing here. Was this place suppose to be one of those universities of various arts? Hmph. Perhaps if the Protheans spent less time on art and actually submitted to the Reaper, they'd still be alive today. But it so too late for them. Millenia too late. All that could be done was try to broker peace to the machines now. He suddenly heard the sound of a starship closing in. Saren turned around quickly and saw the SSV Normandy diving at him. So that's how they got here. Believing that they'd crash right at the entrance, Saren turned to order his geth.

"You two keep moving. Inside. Now!" He ushered motioning to the door. He spotted a mako fly out of the ship's cargo hold. So that was his tactic, eh? Clever, but risky. Saren backed up, getting inside of the tunnel as the door began to close. Just before the ancient doors sealed, he saw the mako land. The mako's cannon fired at the door. The mass accelerator slug slammed into the door, scorching it, but it was otherwise undamaged. Some of the blast slipped through and struck Saren causing him to be pushed back. He staggered back for a moment. One of the geth came up ready to apply some medi-gel just in case their prophet had ever been injured. Before it reached however, Saren been chuckling. That chuckle turned into a cold, almost maniacal laughter until he calmed himself.

Saren gave a turian grin as he held up his arms and flexed his talons. Yes, he could certainly feel his new power now. He wasn't damaged at all! His barrier took the brunt of it and even though it was a relatively smaller amount, it was the equivalent to being right near an impact from the cannon fire, which would incinerate most opponents, shielded or not. His barrier was only half drained as well and already returning quickly to full power! He didn't have any plans to take a mako round head-on, but this power was amazing! Now if only he could further test his powers. He turned and began walking down the tunnel. The geth fell in line behind their prophet, ready for their gods' return.

* * *

Outside the tunnel

* * *

"Dammit! I almost had him!" Ashley cursed as they got out of the mako.

"Don't worry about it, chief. You might have scared him or even wounded him." Kaidan said optimistically with everyone but Shepard agreeing. Shepard was too busy sensing Saren's new power. His biotics were much stronger then last time. Before, he was around Benezia's level, but now... It felt like he was sensing New Growth again. That was a fight he wasn't looking forward to having. Tali came up to the door and studied it.

"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren reaches the Conduit!" Liara said trying to use her biotics to wrench it open. The door didn't even make a sound. Tali shook her head.

"There's no way we're getting past this door with brute force." She said making Liara stop.

"Saren found a way to open it. There must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex." Garrus deduced.

"We're gonna have to find some way to get it up and running again." Kaidan stated before Wrex cut in.

"I know this is important, but I think we're gonna have company." Wrex nodded to behind the mako and the team saw multiple geth troopers coming towards them. Shepard took out his assault rifle, as did Ashley. Kaidan and Liara took out their pistols while Wrex and Tali took out their shotguns. Garrus took out his sniper and quick-scoped one of them before everyone converged to a choke point. The mako obviously wouldn't fit through it so they would have to find the override on foot. The team managed to destroy all the geth before walking out only to be attacked by more geth, this time with armatures. The troopers were mopped up easily but the armatures were a bit of a pain to deal with. Once one was weakened though, Tali hacked it and turned it on the other. The armature stood no chance against all of them alone. Once it was destroyed Tali made the hacked armature self-destruct before they moved on.

Knowing that they had a lot of ground to cover and little time, Shepard split everyone into pairs while he did things alone.

"Tali, go with Wrex and check that way. Kaidan, you and Ash check that way. Garrus, you take Liara and go down that way. I'll go straight ahead to see if there's anything that can help us. Move out!" He ordered before going to his intended destination. On the way he overheard the comms.

"Found a deactivated elevator over here." Kaidan spoke which you could here a loud bang in the background followed by a groan. Apparently Ashley just tried to hit to make it work.

"Nothing but geth terminals down here. Tali's trying to hack them see if any of them are the override." Wrex spoke into the comm.

"Only geth this way. Garrus above-! Good shot." Liara spoke as gun fire was heard in the background followed by the unmistakable sound of a sniper round going off.

"It's clear over here now. Nothing but geth bodies." Garrus spoke into the comm. Shepard followed the path full of vines before coming to a courtyard. He quickly noticed geth terminals leading down a narrow path. He gripped his Master HMWA, ready for the synthetics. He carefully walked along the path, sensing for any geth until he came to a downhill slope. He saw a geth destroyer accompanied by 3 troopers. He threw a grenade at the destroyer before gunning down two troopers.

The grenade destroyed the destroyer's shields and even damaged its mechanical frame, but the synthetic was still moving. Shepard turned his fire on the destroyer which finally collapsed. The third geth trooper came up on him, but he used overload on it before turning his gun on it and filled it with holes. He made his way down and walked forward coming to a more designed area that had pillars. Shepard climbed on to it before he was beset by geth hoppers.

He used singularity to trap all three of them, switching to his Master HMWSG and gunned them, still floating in midair. He saw an active elevator and signaled for his team.

"Got a working elevator over here. Come to my position." He ordered into the calm. A series of affirmatives came through. He waited a few moments before everyone arrived. Garrus looked at the elevator.

"This place still has power. Must be running off its own generator." He stated.

"I bet this is the command center for the entire complex. Saren's troops must have sealed the doors from here after he went inside." Ashley replied as everyone got in. The elevator descended down smoothly despite its years of inoperability.

"We will have to figure out how to disengage the security lockdown if we want to get inside the bunker." Tali said as the elevator took them deeper and deeper until it stopped. The door on the other side opened and everyone got out their weapons. Shepard looked over the edge and saw a corridor leading to a larger area. He could sense multiple electric signatures in that direction. He signaled his team to be quiet as they crept through to the area when Shepard saw the geth. Apparently they had been noticed. Not only that but Shepard noticed that there were 4 armatures under repair. Seeing this, he sprinted to one as gunfire erupted. His team had no idea what he was doing before covering him as the geth tried to shoot him. Shepard shot back a little before making it to the armature repair station.

Dodging accelerator rounds, he had Isaac hack the terminal and activate the armature with a little modifications added. The armature stood up and looked at the team.

"Shepard! Why would you do that?!" Ashley yelled at him, thinking he had made things more difficult for them. The entire team seemed agree with her... until the armature turned on the geth and started firing. Suddenly, the 3 other deactivated armatures reactivated and began firing on the geth. The team stood by stunned and relieved, or in Wrex's case, disappointed, as the pressure was taken off them and on the armatures. Shepard fired at the geth with his following in. The geth were destroyed easily. With their job's done, the armatures collapsed as Isaac released control of them.

"Ok, I take it back. Nice one, Shepard." Ashley said.

"Thanks." He replied before going on ahead. Everyone followed after him. Shepard noticed the tunnel leading further in, but was curious about what was up the stairwell. Shepard sent Garrus and Wrex to investigate the tunnel. He waited for them to inspect before going up.

"Nothing but an online elevator. Controls aren't working for some reason." Garrus said as they came back. Shepard nodded and walked up the stairs. Everyone followed him as he came to a new room.

"Search this place." He ordered. Everyone fanned out, going over the room.

"Nothing but geth terminals and ancient security panels on this floor." Kaidan stated.

"Not a damn thing up here either." Wrex called from the top before coming back down. Shepard looked around and noticed a slight blinking on one of the panels. He approached it.

"Come. Saren already has a head start. We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit." Liara urged as everyone made for the door.

"Unless he's already found it. Then we're just walking into a trap." Garrus quipped.

"That's a chance we'll have to take." Ashley spoke as she walked alongside him. Tali noticed Shepard hadn't moved.

"Shepard?" She asked causing everyone to look back at him. Shepard was staring at the panel. The blinking light was green and barely noticeable. Shepard reached up to touch it. The panel lit up with a green holographic terminal. A pedestal beside it lit up with an orange light. It looked like it was supposed to be an some kind of person, but it was so corroded that there was no humanoid shape, just merely a lot blurs and orange calibration rings.

"Hold on... something's happening." Kaidan said. Everyone listened for it to say anything. After a few seconds a voice was heard.

"-too late... unable to... invading fleets... no escape..." Shepard heard the damaged hologram sputter out in-between spurs of static.

"Sounds like some kind of message. But I don't recognize the language." Wrex said making Shepard look at him in confusion. Why hadn't Wrex understood it? Shepard was able to easily.

"It is probably in Prothean. This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we can't understand it." Liara stated disappointedly. Shepard turned to her.

"The message is all broken up, but I understand some of the words. It's a warning against the Reaper invasion." He stated. Liara looked at him with a gleam in her eyes. Oh boy here we go.

"Of course. Between the beacons and the Cipher, an understanding of the Prothean language would have been transferred into your mind." The damage hologram continued on before she could say more.

"-ot safe... seek refuge... -side the archives..." Bursts of static made it difficult to understand.

"What's it saying? Can you make out anything useful?" Ashley asked as she looked from the hologram to Shepard. Shepard merely kept his eyes on the hologram.

"-alled Reapers... the Citadel... overwhelmed... only hope..." The static continued through the message before Shepard pick out the words again. "act of desperation... the Conduit... all is lost." Shepard noticed the voice changed somehow. Whether it was a new person or the audio was getting worse, he did not know.

"It said something about the Conduit but it's too degraded to help. We should go." Shepard said shaking his head negatively. Everyone walked out of the room. As he left he could hear the hologram add one last thing, "cannot be stopped [static]... cannot be stopped...[static]"

The group walked back to the elevator only to encounter a slight problem.

"The elevators offline!" Tali said looking at the elevator's console. Shepard groaned.

"Let's check the other one. They walked back to the security room and down the tunnel to find the elevator open.

"Well, that's convient." Shepard said as everyone got in. The elevator took them up. Ashley and Kaidan noticed where they came out of.

"So that's why the elevator wasn't working." Ashley muttered, her foot still sore from kicking it earlier.

"Who votes we take the vehicle into the creepy underground bunker?" Kaidan asked once they got back to the mako to find the bunker door opened.

"Good idea. The firepower will come in handy." Wrex said nodding. Everyone piled in and drove down the tunnel. The angle changed from steep to flat with a minute and the mako drove on what was water.

I have spent my life studying Protheans, but I never dreamed I would discover anything like this! This bunker might have been the last refuge of their entire species. Just imagine what mysteries it might hold. Imagine what secrets it might reveal!" Liara said excitedly as she looked at the surroundings they passed.

"Hey! Try to remember why we're here. Saren, the Conduit, the fate of the entire known galaxy?" Ashley snapped. Liara looked embarrassed at the admonishment.

"I am sorry... I was swept up in the moment. I just hope we have the opportunity to study this place in detail after this is done."

"We'll figure that out after we stop Saren." Shepard said as he continued to drive.

"You know, I'm surprised we haven't run into trap by Saren and his geth yet. Maybe they were in too much of a rush." Wrex commented noticing the quiet of their surroundings outside the mako.

"Maybe we haven't run into it yet." Tali suggested. Wrex grunted in agreement as the mako dipped down until she righted herself again and a flat surface. That was when they noticed some things sticking out of the walls. There many tubes, more than a hundred of them, sticking out of slots in the walls.

"What are all those things on the wall? Some kind of containers?" Garrus wondered aloud.

"They look like stasis pods. The Protheans probably tried to keep themselves alive through cryogenic freezing. Something must have gone wrong though. This bunker became their tomb. Those pods are dead as well as anyone inside."

"All of them? There must be hundreds of these pods. What was Saren expecting to find here? There's nothing left but corpses." Ashley said until Shepard slammed on the brakes and hit the thrusters, narrowly dodging four rockets.

"Fire right at the edge!" He exclaimed. Ashley did so and she saw four silhouettes light up in flames.

"Good eyes, Shepard."

"Good shot, Ash." He replied back before driving again. They seemed to be getting deeper and deeper underground the further they went. That was when they came to a third chamber. This time it was shorter and at the end of it, Shepard saw something in the distance. He drove up to it only to se it was some kind of force field. As soon as he stopped another one activated right behind them!

"What's happening?" Tali asked nervously.

"It's a trap! Saren must have set an ambush!" Kaiden said as he jumped the gun. Everyone got ready for a fight, but after nothing happening for a few minutes they relaxed.

"I don't think Saren's behind this." Wrex said. Shepard nodded before spotting a doorway on the side.

"Liara, Garrus. You're with me. We're going to see if we can't shut this off." Shepard said getting out of the mako along with Liara and Garrus. He turned to the still opened mako. "You guys stay here and make sure nothing happens while we're gone."

"Be careful." Ashley said making Shepard smirk.

"Hey, it's me." He said walking backwards with his hands up before turning around.

"That's why I said be careful!" She shouted after him as they left. Shepard laughed at her reaction before finding Liara and Garrus by an elevator. They entered and pressed the controls. The elevator descended down at a faster rate than the previous ones had.

"If this was a trap, Saren would have already sprung it. He's not behind this, who is?" Liara asked. Garrus shook his head.

"I have no clue. Let's just hope whatever it is, it's friendly." He replied before the elevator stopped. The door opened to reveal a room. It was considerable smaller than the previous rooms they had been in, but that wasn't the only difference. The room had multiple pods out, looking as if all of them had been opened. What dress Shepard's attention the most was the activated hologram in the middle of the room. Shepard walked up to it, holstering his gun.

"You are not Prothean. But you are not machine, either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warning through the beacons." A voice echoed in the room. Shepard knew it was the hologram in front of him and from the way his teammates were looking at it, they too were able to understand it.

"Looks like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged." Garrus stated eyeing it.

"I do not sense the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope." The VI contemplated. Shepard arched an eyebrow at it. If hadn't known any better he would have thought it was an AI with that last line.

"This is incredible. An actual Prothean VI, and I can understand it!" Liara nearly gushed as she tried to keep herself in place.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend. My name is Vigil. You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe." The newly named Vigil spoke.

"Are you some sort of Artificial Intelligence program?" Shepard asked.

"I am an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility." Vigil replied. Oh. Well that would certainly explain the aspiration of hope. Shepard remembered the reason they came down here in the first place. Obviously, Vigil's doing.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"You must break a cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it, you must understand or you will make the same mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of government. As it was with us, and as it has been with every civilization that came before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is actually an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space, the empty void beyond the galaxy's horizon. When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will destroyed."

"How do the Reapers survive out in dark space?" Shepard had seen Sovereign first hand, but he had difficulty believing any machine, even one like Sovereign, managing to survive for so long out in pitch black void.

"We have only theories. The researchers here believed that the Reapers entered prolonged states of inactivity to conserve energy. This allows them to survive thousands and thousands of years it takes for organic civilization to rebuild itself. But in this state, they are vulnerable. By retreating beyond the edges of the galaxy, they ensure no one will accidentally discover them. They keep their existence hidden until the Citadel relay is activated." That was another that Shepard didn't understand. He understood that the Citadel seemed similar to a mass relay, not only that but it was nearly in the middle of the relay network. The thing he didn't understand was that in all the times people have lived on it in the cycles, you'd think someone might've noticed it was a relay!

"How come nobody ever noticed the Citadel was an inactive mass relay?"

"The reapers are careful to keep the greatest secrets of the Citadel hidden. That is why they created a species of seemingly benign organic caretakers." Shepard realized what Vigil was talking about now. "The keepers maintain the station's most basic functions. They enable any species that discovers the Citadel to use it without fully understanding the technology. Reliance on the keepers ensures no other species will ever discover the Citadel's true nature. Not until the relay is activated and the Reapers invade." Shepard closed his eyes and sighed. The Reapers deception was ingenious and horrific once he realized what state the Citadel was in when they left.

"The Reapers can wipe out the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack!" He said in realization. Liara gasped while Garrus grunted at the news.

"That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we even realized we were under attack. The Reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it, the mass relays. Communication and transportation across our empire were crippled. Each star system was isolated, cutoff from the others. Easy prey for the Reaper fleets. Over the next decades, the Reapers systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out." Shepard shuddered at that. It was truly the perfect trap. Taking the seat of power not only crippled the Prothean Empire, but also gave the Reapers the means to know where to go and what they were facing. Shepard then remembered when he spoke to Saren on Virmire.

"The war was lost. If you had surrendered, they might have let you live."

"No offer of surrender was ever given. Our enemy had a single goal: the extinction of all advanced organic life. Through the Citadel, the Reapers had access to all our records, maps, census data. Information is power, and they knew everything about us. Their fleets advanced across every settled region of the galaxy. Some worlds were utterly destroyed. Other were conquered, their populations enslaved." Shepard winced. That couldn't have been good. Vigil continued you on.

"These indoctrinated servants became sleeper agents under Reaper control. Taken in as refugees by other Protheans, they betrayed them to the machines. Within a few centuries, the Reapers had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy. They were relentless, brutal and absolutely thorough."

"I don't understand. Where did the Reapers go after they conquered your people?"

"Our world were stripped bare, harvested by the indoctrinated slaves. Everything of value-all resources, all technology-was taken. Certain that all advanced organic life had been extinguished, the Reapers retreated back through the Citadel Relay into dark space, sealing it behind them. All evidence of the Reaper invasion had been wiped away. Only their indoctrinated slaves were left behind, abandoned. Mindless husks no longer capable of independent thought, the indoctrinated soon starved or died of exposure. The genocide of the Protheans was complete." Shepard felt even more appalled by the Reapers now. He knew they could indoctrinate people. He knew they probably used them to destroy their enemies, but they enslaved an entire galaxy! And then completely wiped out the people utterly, leaving them as only a distant memory! And the Protheans weren't the first. They've been doing this for millions of years now! Shepard gritted his teeth to keep himself from snarling. All that pain, all that slaughter and death. And all for what?

"What do the Reapers get out of this? Why do they keep repeating this pattern of genocide over and over?" He wasn't aware he even asked the question allowed until Vigil answered him.

"The Reapers are alien, unknowable. Perhaps they need slaves or resources. More likely, they are driven by motives and goals organic beings cannot hope to comprehend. In the end, what does it matter? Your survival depends on stopping them, not in understanding them." Shepard would've disagreed with that statement if there wasn't some truth to it. After all, there would be plenty of time to look into the Reapers _after _Saren was stopped.

"You said you brought me here for a reason. Tell me what we need to do."

"The Conduit is the key. Before the Reapers attacked, we Protheans were on the cusp of unlocking the mysteries of mass relay technology. Ilos was a top secret facility. Here, researchers worked on a small-scale version of a mass relay. One that linked directly to the Citadel: the hub of the relay network." Liara gasped as Shepard's eyes widened at the implication.

"The Conduit is not a weapon. It is a back door onto the Citadel!" She said making Garrus look at her shock. Shepard's eyes narrowed. If that was true then how...

"How did you manage to stay hidden?"

"All official records of our project were destroyed in the initial attack on the Citadel. While the Prothean empire came crashing down, Ilos was spared. We severed all communication with the outside and our facility went dark. the personnel retreated underground into these archives. To conserve resources, everyone was put into cryogenic stasis. I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed. But the genocide of an entire species is a long, slow process. Years passed. Decades. Centuries. The Reapers persisted. And my energy reserves were dwindling." Shepard closed his eyes, knowing what Vigil was going to say.

"How did you survive?"

"I began to disable the life support of non-essential personnel. First support staff, then security. One by one, their pods were shut down to conserve energy. Eventually, only the stasis pods containing the top scientists remained active. Even these were in danger of failing when the Reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel relay."

"There were hundreds of stasis pods out there! You just shut them down? You killed them?" Liara said in sadness. It was obvious that this was getting to her. But in all honesty, when facing extinction, sometimes the most hated things, the most terrible things have to be done.

"You couldn't let everyone die. Better to sacrifice some so others could live." Shepard said.

"This outcome was not completely unforeseen. My actions were a result of contingency programming entered on my creation."

"I bet they didn't tell the 'non-essential' staff about this contingency." Garrus said with snort. Vigil continued on, not acknowledging the turians input.

"I saved key personnel. When the Reapers retreated, the top researchers were still alive. My actions are the only reason any hope remains. When the researchers woke, they realized that the Prothean species was doomed. There were only a dozen individuals left, far too few to sustain a viable population. Yet they vowed to find some way from returning. A way to break the cycle forever. And they knew the keepers were the key."

"I still don't fully understand what's going on here. Why is Saren trying to find the Conduit?"

"The Conduit gives him access to the Citadel and the keepers. The keepers are controlled by the Citadel. Before each invasion, a signal is sent through the station compelling the keepers to activate the Citadel relay. After decades of feverish study, the scientists discovered a way to alter this signal. Using the Conduit, the Conduit they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. The Reapers are trapped in dark space." Shepard's eyes narrowed. Then if Sovereign is using Saren then...

"Saren must have some kind of plan to undo everything you did."

"The one you call Saren will use the Conduit to bypass the Citadel's defenses. Once inside, he will transfer control of the station to Sovereign. Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle will begin again."

"I'll take Sovereign down... somehow." Shepard said with some doubt coming in. He didn't know how, but there had to be a way.

"There's a data file in my console. Take a copy when you go. When you reach the Citadel's master control unit, upload it to the station. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against Sovereign."

"Wait. Where's the Citadel's master control unit? I've never heard of anything like that." Garrus said trying to figure it out. Uh oh. If Garrus, who has lived on the Citadel doesn't know where, then they were in trouble. Luckily Vigil had an idea.

"Through the Conduit. Follow Saren. He will lead you to your destination." Shepard nodded feeling the countdown to armageddon already starting.

"Saren's got enough of a head start. Grab the data file and let's go!" He ordered before turning around. Garrus nodded and approached the console and downloaded the file before walking after him.

"Shepard, are you sure? Who knows how much longer Vigil will be here? Even now the projection is weak. This might be our only chance to speak with it- our only link to the knowledge of the Protheans! It is the opportunity of a lifetime!" Liara said getting in front of him. Shepard turned to the VI and saw she was right. Vigil was beginning to wink out of existence. Soon he wouldn't be able to activate himself and he'd be lost forever. Shepard looked back at Liara and knew why she was doing this. This was probably the only thing that'll give her solid answers to the Prothean civilization, but...

"Liara, I know how much this means to you but we need to go. Besides, I don't think Vigil can tall us much more than we can already figure out." Shepard said as he began walking away.

"The one you call Saren has not reached the Conduit. Not yet. There is still hope if you hurry." Vigil called out before his projection winked out. The group walked into the elevator which traveled back up. Midway through, Liara started talking.

"All their culture, all their advanced technology, and the Protheans were taken in by the Reapers, just as we were. They failed." She said despondently while looking at the ground. A three fingered hand landed on her shoulder causing her to look at Garrus.

"The protheans did not fail. They gave us a chance. It falls to us to make the most of it, so I suggest we hurry." Garrus said just as the elevator stopped. Shepard smirked as the door opened.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Garrus. Let's go!" They ran into the mako with the rest of team asking what they found. They replied that they would explain it on the way before Shepard gunned it forward. As they went forward Shepard radioed Joker to meet up with the Alliance Fleet.

* * *

On the Citadel: Presidium

* * *

People were going about their day-to-day things. Some were relaxing and admiring the Relay Monument. While some people were a little nervous about having the entire Citadel fleet in orbit, most managed to ignore it. Suddenly the Relay Monument's rings began moving. Everyone looked at it in surprise and wonder. What was going to happen. That question was asked more and more as the core lit up inside the rings which moved faster. The core flashed and multiple geth flew at everyone. In midair, the geth fired on everyone, killing most and wounding some. Saren came out next followed by more. A massacre began as the sounds of gunfire and the screams of innocent people filled the Presidium. Saren pointed to the Citadel Tower.

"Seize Citadel Control!" He ordered before taking out his geth pulse rifle.

* * *

At the same time with the Citadel Fleet

* * *

The Citadel Fleet had been stationed in orbit of the Citadel for a few days now and hadn't slouched on their vigil yet. The Citadel was not in a state of emergency, so the Council was on the station still in talks and doing their jobs. So the fleet prepared itself for when relay readings detected a large force coming. They tightened formation and were about to send the order for the Citadel to seal itself, they saw the force that came out.

A ship they had never seen before flew out. It was massive. Larger than any ship, even the Destiny Ascension. What was worse was the fact that it was surrounded by three dozen geth dreadnoughts! The fleet tried to open fire before they were barraged by cannon fire from the dreadnoughts. Several cruisers were immediately destroyed by the attack while some were scathed but holding. The fleet returned fire, but it did little against the geth forces. The super-dreadnought hadn't even fired at all and instead took the mass accelerator slugs head on. It wasn't even remotely scratched.

Geth fighters were spotted closing in and fast. Turian fighters flew in to intercept them. The fighters clashed with the turians taking losses faster than the geth. The geth consensus gave the fighters coordinated attacks and dodge capabilities that the turians couldn't match with. Seeing this, Matriarch Lidanya moved to one of her navigator, away from a console as it sparked from the damage the ship had taken.

"Activate the defenses! Seal the station!" She ordered. Her navigator, another asari, shook her negatively.

"The arms aren't moving! Systems not responding!" Matriarch Lidanya steadied herself as the ship shook from the impact of a particularly strong mass accelerator impact. The ceiling above her sparked from electrical strain.

"Abandon the Citadel! Evacuate the Council!" She ordered to her navigator who nodded. The navigator activated the link to Citadel Control.

"Citadel Control! Citadel Control! Do you copy?"

* * *

In Citadel Control

* * *

_"Citadel Control! Citadel Control! Do you copy?" _The speaker sounded out in the control room. Purple blood pooled around it, flowing out of an asari with a gunshot hole in her head courtesy of the geth behind her. Said geth turned around and saw its prophet walking through the doorway further up the the Tower. Soon. Soon their gods would present and their dream will be realized.

* * *

Back on Ilos with the Team

* * *

After gunning the mako through multiple parties of geth troopers and a Colossus, the team finally saw the Conduit.

"There! The Conduit! It's incredible!" Tali exclaimed upon seeing it.

"We don't have time to admire the view. We have to get through that relay... and these geth aren't going to make it easy on us." Ashley said seeing the colossi down next to the Conduit.

"Not only but... It's closing!" Shepard said seeing the Conduit's rings start to slow. He hit the gas and mako flew to the Conduit. Thankfully everyone was strapped in so all they felt was the force push them back in their seats. The mako bounced and shook as it hit the ground in front of the Conduit. The geth colossi fired on it even as Shepard never took his foot of the accelerator. He glanced at the mako's HUD to see the shields had been depleted and now the mako was taking direct damage.

"Hang on things are gonna a little rough!" Garrus yelled as a piece of the mako broke off.

"We're not gonna make it!" Tali yelled as a tire blew out. The Conduit's rings slowed more and more and the core grew darker and darker.

"We'll make it!" Shepard yelled as they got within 20 meters of the Conduit. Another tire blew up.

"WE'LL MAKE IT!" He roared as they got right to it. The Conduit covered the mako with element zero energy before it shot her straight up, before finally powering off.

* * *

**Oh my God! My head! Take it from me, you potential writers. Don't try to write over 5K words in a day It'll make your head hurt.**

**Now please tell me your thoughts on this! We only got 2 maybe 3 more chapters till this story is over.**

**Favorite, Follow and Review. Till next time!**


	37. Overdrive

Recap: "WE'LL MAKE IT!" He roared as they got right to it. The Conduit covered the mako with element zero energy before it shot her straight up, before finally powering off.

* * *

Now

* * *

The Presidium was wrecked. Bodies littered the floor with blood pooling around. Walls had been torn up with debris on the ground. Fire and smoke filled the air along with the alarm.

"Critical failures detected across all monitored systems. Please begin emergency evacuation procedures. This is not a drill." The geth were right in front of Avina, standing guard at the entrance to the Citadel Tower. The ignored the VI's constant emergency broadcasts as they looked for any organics that may still be alive. Out of the corner of their sight they noticed the Conduit's rings begin to accelerate. A glow soon came as the rings got faster and faster.

They approached it with their weapons trained on it. What was coming through it? There were no other units meant to come through after them. Especially this late in the attack. Once they got close enough, their audio sensors picked up the sound of rumbling as the Conduit's core flew brighter. Another sound came through. A revving sound that was similar to one of the organics' vehicles. They were right in front of it when a badly damaged mako came flying through the Conduit.

They had no time to move as the vehicle spiraled in midair and landed on them, skidding for little until it came to stop against the wall on its back. There was no movement at first. Just silence from the crash, until one of the doors was blasted off. A human male came tumbling out of the wreck. This human was followed by an asari, a quarian, a turian, another human male, a human female and a krogan. Everyone stumbled for a bit, not used to the experience of flying through a relay corridor only to crash into something. Shepard looked at the mako to see it was turned over. Two tires had exploded while the others were melting almost. There sparks coming out of the axel which was bent too much.

"Well, it finally happened. We killed the mako." He said. After all that crazy shit he put that mako through, it only seemed fitting that it would be destroyed by this.

"Shepard, you could've killed us!" Garrus said to him.

"Considering what we were up against, I'd say we came out fine! I'll agree that it wasn't my best landing, but certainly not my worst." Shepard said dusting of his armor before looking at his surroundings.

"Oh yea, but I don't think this is much... better... Spirits!" Garrus said coming up to him seeing the devastation Saren and the geth wrought.

"By the Goddess!" Liara said coming up beside him.

"Damn. I knew the geth would get the drop on the Citadel, but..." Ashley said seeing what they were seeing. Kaidan nor Tali spoke seeing the carnage.

"Shit." Wrex muttered. Shepard shook himself from his stupor. No time to stand around in shock. Not with what was coming. He turned to his team.

"Okay, equipment check! Anything damaged?" He asked as he looked over himself. His armor had protected him and wasn't beat up to badly. He got resounding no's and negatives. He thought over what everyone had.

For their armor, everyone was wearing Colossus armor with him, Ashley, and Wrex wearing the heaviest. Garrus wore the medium and Kaidan, Liara and Tali wore the light versions. All armor had upgraded shield interfaces as well as upgraded medical exoskeletons.

For weapons, he had the Master Spectre Gear. Ashley and Garrus had Rosenkov Materials Assault and Sniper rifles while Wrex and Tali had the Sokolov shotguns with Kaidan and Liara having only their Karpov pistols. All weapons had combat optic upgrades as well as frictionless materials and a kinetic coil to stabilize the weapon. Some weapons had other upgrades like Garrus' Volkov sniper having improved sighting. All of their ammo was the best tungsten ammo they could get. This would certainly help the fight to come.

For bio-amps, he, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara all had top of the line Savants made by the Serrice Council. Possibly the most powerful and most balanced of amps on the market, allowing a biotic to use their powers faster, longer and stronger.

For omni-tools, he, Kaidan, Liara, Tali and Garrus also had top of the line Savants made from Serrice Council. Also the most powerful and balanced of omni-tools available, allowing tech experts to use their abilities faster, give a little more power to their shields and give the medi-gel dispensers faster reaction time. Now, everyone in their group had an omni-tool on them. It was practically mandatory in this day and age, but only the ones who used tech abilities seemed to care about having above basic omni-tools, hence why the people in their group have them.

For grenades, Shepard was the only one who seemed to use them. He personally modified them with the best high explosive material he could find. It should give his grenades a wider explosive radius, much better damage and if the enemy is strong enough, wear down their defenses. He only had ten grenades so he had better make them count.

As for media-gel, altogether they had 10 which was split among Shepard, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Liara and Tali. Liara, Garrus, Ashley and Tali were given one each while Shepard and Kaidan had 3 each seeing how they were both trained in medicine.

The sound of metal sliding together interrupted his thoughts as he turned to the sound. He didn't see anything but he could feel them. It wasn't geth, but it was the husks. He saw them come from the elevator's area towards them, swarming. He and Kaidan raised their omni-tools and created a neural shock, which paralyzed most of them. Shepard took out his pistol and shot one straight in the head, dropping it like a stone. Everyone else followed suit and fired at the husks. They didn't last long under the fire of Shepard's team. Shepard looked at the husks and new exactly where they came from. They were once people who lived here on the Citadel. They hadn't encountered any on Ilos, most likely because their were no people to use. Now though... there was a high possibility that these weren't the last they'd see today.

"The Presidium is experiencing severe system malfunctions across the entire level. All non-emergency personnel must evacuate immediately." Avina spoke as he walked in front of her. Her hologram was glitchy, changing from facing him to facing away from him and disappearing before reappearing. Shepard analyzed the VI. It may have some information about how things are here.

"Give me a rundown of the damage." He ordered.

"We have lost all primary power to the level. Environmental controls are not responding. Class three fires are burning in sectors 2,3,6, and 7. Civilian casualties are high. I am also detecting numerous synthetic life-forms throughout the station. They are believed to be hostile. Please approach with caution." Shepard thought things over and wondered where Saren was.

"Where's Saren?"

"Former Spectre agent Saren Arterius is nearing the vicinity of the Council Chamber. A warrant had been issued for his arrest, though Citadel Security is unable to respond at this time." Shepard's eyes widened. If he got in there while the Council was possible in. Wait. No, the Council wouldn't stay while an invasion happened. Would they?

"What happened to the Council?" He had to make sure. If they were dead, then chances are this entire side of the galaxy would fall into chaos, even if they stopped Saren and Sovereign. He didn't need a whole galaxy to consist of independent star systems.

"In accordance to standard emergency procedures, the Council has been evacuated to the Destiny Ascension." Shepard let out a small breath of relief. At least they weren't here on the ground. Instead they were on the most powerful ship in the Citadel Fleet, though he wasn't entirely sure they were out of danger just yet. The Destiny Ascension was a MASSIVE ship. While she had a lot of power, she had little maneuverability. Against a geth dreadnought he wouldn't worry. Against a whole fleet of dreadnoughts with fighters in the mix? Yeah, he'd be skeptic about the odds of survival. Shepard then remembered his last visit here before heading to Ilos.

"What about Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina? What happened to them?" He didn't really care much for Udina, but still. Humanity needed their politician and he didn't want the balance _too _disrupted. Anderson however, well Shepard was concerned. The man made a lot of sacrifices so they could get this far. He'd always seemed to support them every step of the way in the background.

"I have no information on the status of specific individuals. Once the current crisis has been resolved, a complete accounting of casualties and survivors will begin." Great. Nothing on them. Shepard turned to his team, ready to leave.

"Come on. We need to find Saren before it's too late!" Shepard ordered, moving to the elevator behind them. Before he could enter, however, he sensed multiple electric signatures coming over the rubble near them. He took out his assault rifle, his team following his example. Instantly, multiple geth jumped over the debris ready to fire on them. Everyone unleashed hell with their guns. Some geth troopers were instantly killed while others, like the destroyers were weakened.

Kaidan, Garrus and Tali used overload on a few of them which damaged them as well as making their weapons overheated.

Liara and Wrex used warp on a couple of geth hoppers which were instantly taken down and shot.

Ashley had managed to shoot out three geth troopers with overkill and adrenaline pumping through her veins.

One geth juggernaut had managed to actually tackle Shepard into a wall. The blow caused Shepard to drop his gun before trying to wrestle the juggernaut off of him. He managed to biotically push it away before it trained its pulse rifle on him. He quickly concentrated his biotics into his barrier which covered his figure in a blue glow. The geth fired on him. The slugs impacted against his barrier, but he was forced to concentrate on it due to the close proximity of the shots hitting it. If he let up even a little his barrier would be broken at this rate.

Suddenly a piece of metal stabbed the geth's chassis. The synthetic looked down at the protruding object before its bodied glowed blue and was easily lifted off the ground before being thrown, body slipping off the metal which was a rebar bar. The figure using it was clad in Predator light armor. Shepard saw the man's face and wasn't surprised in the least.

"Hello, Chun." Jackie Chun looked at him with a grin.

"Hey, Shepard. What happened there? It looks like you're getting slow." Chun teased before Shepard noticed the juggernaut getting back up. He used his biotics to crush its head.

"Not really." He denied as he closed his fist. He directed his attention to the metal bar that was in Chun's hand.

"Where'd you get that?" Chun looked at the makeshift weapon he was holding.

"This was sticking out of a broken wall. I pulled it out but it was bended up. So I used my biotics to straighten it out and flatten the majority of it." The bar couldn't have been more than 5 feet long. One part of it was normal and round, the grip, while the rest had been flattened to the point it had an edge.

"So you made a sword out of a piece of construction material and your biotics? Impressive." Shepard said admiring it. Chun nodded in happiness.

"Yes, I like it too, but enough of that. What the fuck happened?" Shepard looked at him in surprise.

"Weren't you here?"

"No. I was in the wards when this shit happened. Weren't you here?" Shepard face palmed himself before dragging it off his face.

"No, look here's what happened." Shepard didn't tell Chun everything, but enough to know what was going on.

"So let me get this straight. Basically there is a rogue Spectre causing all kinds of hell. The Citadel is under attack from the geth who've made it onto the Citadel and are also fighting the Citadel Fleet right outside as we speak. And If said Spectre gets to the Citadel Chambers and you don't stop him, we're all gonna die?" Shepard nodded.

"Fuck... well. Let's cause a little hell for these synthetics. You go after the Spectre while I have some fun down here." Chun said as he brandished his sword and giggled creepily.

"I don't think that'll be enough, Chun." Shepard gestured to the Crime Lord's sword. Chun looked at his sword before thinking about it.

"Hmmm. You might be right. OH! I got it!" Chun reached behind his back and grabbed a pouch full of red sand.

"Let me do one bump, get my head straight. Come to papa." He said as he put a whole bunch on his free hand. He sniffed it up fast and gave a pleased sigh. His biotics started to come off him in waves.

"I LOVE RED SAND!" He shouted at the top of his lungs before he flew, no really _flew_, over the debris. Shepard could faintly hear Chun's maniacal laughter getting further and further away along with the sounds of intense biotic vs synthetic combat. He picked up his gun and holstered it as his team came up behind him having finished the geth a while ago and merely watched the exchange between their leader and the obviously insane criminal.

"Shepard, did he just-?"

"Yes, Garrus."

"And you let him just-"

"Yes, now let's go while he trims down the geth coming after us." Shepard said as he motioned everyone into the elevator. As the elevator shot up everyone could see Chun attacking the geth mercilessly. Some got thrown far away, some where sliced in half and others were crushed. One geth hopper was flung so high up in actually crashed in the elevator glass. Everyone leaned back at the unexpected collision before relaxing seeing the geth slide off the glass slightly before falling away.

"So that was-" Garrus again tried to question.

"Yes, and now you see why I didn't contact C-Sec." Garrus could only nod at his friend's course of action. C-Sec wouldn't be able to handle someone like Chun, they'd need a whole team of Spectres to take that crazy man down.

* * *

With Saren

* * *

Saren walked through the Council Chamber. He was becoming increasingly aggravated. To let some of his aggravation go he saw a keeper and shot it after snarling. He heard it squeak and chirp as it died with a certain amount of satisfaction. He approached the Petitioner's Podium before he pressed something on his omni-tool. The podium extended outward and a screen came up at the edge of it. Only Sovereign had known of this which is why he knew about it.

This was the Citadel master control unit. Funny how it was stationed not at the Council's Podium, but at the Petitioner's. How the most powerful group in the galaxy would make their judgements and yet the power to control the galaxy was not at their place. It was at the people's. But no more reflecting. It was time to take control and bring in a new era. Saren raised his talon to the control and pressed a few commands in.

* * *

Outside at the battle

* * *

The Destiny Ascension had taken some damage but she was still flying fine. She probably had lost a few hundred crew members today due to the wounds she suffered. The battle had been a stalemate with both sides taking heavy losses. The geth had taken more than a few cruisers but not as many as they feared. The geth themselves have lost a couple of dreadnoughts which would have made a difference if it hadn't been for that damned super dreadnought. Its barriers hadn't even been penetrated or worn down at all since the battle started while most have lost theirs. Even the Ascension's shields have dropped to 50 percent. Not mention the attack power it had. Those red cannon attacks that shot superheated beams of molten metal at a fraction of light speed tore through a lot of cruisers. That was when the Citadel's arms began closing.

"The Citadel's closing. They're sealing the station!" Someone said over the communication's link. As the arms closed to seal the station, the super dreadnought picked up speed. The geth dreadnoughts huddled to it and kept up while others continued to fight.

"Don't let the enemy ships inside the arms!" Someone ordered seeing this. Several turian cruisers got in front of the Citadel and fired at the super dreadnought with everything they had. In the distance they could see their mass accelerator slugs slam into the dreadnought's barriers, illuminating it briefly in the cover of the cosmic dust that surrounded it. They kept firing at the dreadnought seeing it brighten up briefly. Sovereign pushed through without losing any speed while some of the dreadnoughts following it were destroyed. Sovereign continued on plowing through the ineffective attacks even going so far as to ram through at turian cruiser. The cruiser carrying over seventy-five turian troops exploded from the force of the Reaper's passing.

Sovereign flew past the cruisers who became preoccupied by the geth dreadnoughts, having decided to buy time for their god. The Reaper never stopped as the Citadel's arms fully closed behind it. The inside of the now closed space station darkened greatly, only illuminated by the metropolis buildings on the arms giving the inside a red atmosphere. Sovereign continued on until it came to Citadel Tower. It finally slowed down with its arms opening up. Coming to hover over the Tower, Sovereign gently placed its arms on it. Wires shot out of it and into the tower.

It would take only a little time for the relay to open, but it would be best to speed it up by powering down some unnecessary functions in the Citadel.

* * *

Back with Shepard and the Team

* * *

Shepard and his team saw the whole thing and where now on their way to the top of the Tower when their elevator came to a screeching halt. Everyone stumbled a bit as the force had caught them unawares. Shepard glanced around knowing what had happened. He took out his breather helmet and placed it on. Hearing the lock's clasp at his neck, he turned around to his team.

"Saren's locked down the elevator! Suit up- we're going outside!" He ordered as he got out his pistol. Everyone quickly put their helmets on. Shepard shot the glass window in front of him. Within zero gravity, the glass went with the round for a bit, flying out a few meters. Debris from the battle of destruction on the wards was floating around as well. Shepard let the gravity take hold of him as he stepped out. His mag-boots activated and he stuck to the wall. He turned upwards at the Tower. He could see and hear Sovereign from his position. The amount of energy the Reaper was putting off at this distance was overwhelming his sixth sense for the moment before he got a grip and ignored it. If there were any geth up there, he might not be able to sense them. The team activated their mag-boots before they began walking up the wall after him.

The grou-wall shook as one of Sovereign's arms tapped the tower. The team moved quickly towards its location. An elevator zoomed beside them before coming to a complete stop and exploded in their way. Geth came out only to be shot down quickly as the team made their way forward. They fought their way to Sovereign, encountering multiple geth and a krogan warlord. Shepard took care of the warlord easily by using lift which made the krogan float away form them helplessly in the zero-g environment. They rounded the corner to see a small blockade of geth hex-shields guarded by two troopers. Tali and Kaidan took care of them with a lift and carnage. Passing that, they came to the Citadel Tower Exhaust Plain, the side of the tower. Shepard could see the antennae around them all pointing to their right or upwards.

Rocket fire zoomed past him causing everyone to turn. Garrus took out a geth sniper while Ashley took out the rocket trooper further away. Wrex dealt with another trooper that was waiting in ambush with a warp. The team made their way through the twists and turns, finding a way up. Coming to another corridor, two geth troopers and a destroyer came upon them.

"Biotics! Just use lift on them! That'll take care of them here!" Shepard ordered through the radio and used lift on the first trooper. Liara used one on the second trooper while Kaidan and Wrex threw the destroyer of the station tower. They came to an open area where they heard a ship coming to them. Everyone looked around and saw a geth dropship fly over them before stopping ahead of them. Right where they were supposed to go. Several troopers came out of the ship and fired at them. Everyone scrambled for cover before returning fire. Everyone was using their talents to weaken the shields or damage the geth. They killed more than handle of troopers, but they just kept coming at him. No matter how many they killed, the dropship replaced them. For every trooper destroyed, three took its place. Shepard and Kaidan were taking cover near an inactive defense turret.

"We need to get rid of that ship!"Shepard held out.

"Any ideas on how to destroy it or make it go away?" Kaidan asked as he shot out of their cover.

"I could alway use my power strike, but it won't do much against a ship alone." Shepard stated as he moved away form the edge where a few shots impacted.

"We need something bigger than that." Kaidan. Both looked at up what they had taken cover against. Shepard looked at Kaidan who looked back and nodded. Shepard looked around and noticed two other turrets nearby with everyone held up at. Tali and Ashley were in the one nearest to them while Wrex, Garrus and Liara were at the one furthest, back where they came from.

"Tali, try to activate the turret you and Ash are near. Garrus, the same with you! Ashley, cover Tali. Liara, Wrex, cover Garrus!" Shepard ordered before moving to the turret controls near him.

"Cover me!" He ordered Kaidan who gave a roger in reply. Shepard activated it easily which was surprising. His turret as well as Garrus' activated and began bombarding the dropship. Shepard noticed Tali's hadn't activated yet.

"Tali, what's going on with your's?" Shepard asked through the link.

"This one was damaged. I'm rerouting... there!" She responded before her turret fired on the dropship. The combined attack power of the three turrets damaged the dropship greatly causing it to have multiple hull breaches with fire coming out. It was eventually driven away by the turrets as the team mopped up the remaining geth. Once the geth were destroyed, they moved on through the path, killing two more krogan, a destroyer and a juggernaut. This led them to the Citadel Tower Exterior Defense grid. This was right beside Sovereign and had multiple geth along with their turrets set up.

"Oh shit!" Shepard yelled before diving for cover. Everyone else followed his lead.

"Dammit!" Ashley yelled narrowly missing a rocket that struck her cover.

"Keelah! They have snipers too!" Tali yelled as she was nearly struck by a sniper shot, just barely making it to cover.

"We need to move forward, but those turrets are gonna make this a pain in the ass." Wrex said through the radio. Everyone moved from cover to cover, using exhaust vents and small trenches to move through, destroying any geth troopers that had been hiding in them.. The crew had to run through a wide area with no cover, dodging turret fire which would've killed them had they not found the trench. They managed to hack the turret guarding it with a combined effort of Wrex and Shepard using their shotguns to weaken its shields, Kaidan and Liara warping its armor and Ashley and Garrus firing at it while Tali hacked it, turning it on the geth.

"Well, that's convenient." Kaidan noted as they walked into it.

Shepard led his team around the overwhelming numbers through the trench, coming up against 5 krogan. Two warriors, one battlemaster and two warlords. Shepard attacked the one warlord and killed him with a power strike easily while Ashley and Garrus dealt with the two warriors. Wrex fought the battle master in one-on-one combat, emerging victorious when he shotgun blasted the krogan in the face after several shots to his shields. Kaidan, Tali and Liara defeated the other warlord together. Liara warped the warlord's shields while Kaidan struck him with a combo of stasis and neural shock, preventing him from moving at all. Tali finished him off with carnage. Everyone walked ahead and found the emergency hatch that led to the Council Chamber. Shepard turned to his team as he placed his hand on the latch.

"Well, this is it. I can't think of any speeches right now. Never was good with words, but I know I can say this. It's been fun fighting with all of you, now here we are at the finale. Let's kick this guy's ass!" With that he opened the hatch and jumped in followed by his team.

* * *

Inside the Chamber

* * *

Saren had finally managed to access the core systems. Now was the time to hand control of the station to Sovereign. He began pressing the buttons for the command. Around him were the nine geth that stayed with him. Seven were troopers while the last two were shock troopers. Saren suddenly heard a crash further down the Chamber behind him.

"Find out what made that noise and if need be stop it. I cannot afford any more distractions." Saren ordered keeping his eyes on the screen. Almost there. The geth obeyed and walked away to the disturbance.

Shepard and company fell through the hatch and into the elevator room. Everyone had their weapons ready as the door opened. Upon entering, the chamber was silent, save for the alarm blaring every second. The walls had chunks taken out of them that were still heated and melted. The a majority of the trees that had decorated the room were on fire now. Where once the trees had been a symbol of peace, life and growth under the power of the Council, were now burning. In a way, one could say it was sign that that very rule was over and what would follow would be death and destruction. Poetic and prophetic really. The embers fell over them as they walked in, their guns moving with their sight as they looked around.

Shepard shook his head. They were right under Sovereign now and he could feel the energy it was putting off. His whole body felt like it was covered with static. So much so he wasn't really able to tell what geth were in front of them on their way over or, for that matter, in the room right now. He could sense biotics clearly still thankfully. He could feel Wrex's, Liara's, Kaidan's and Saren's. He couldn't feel Tali or the geth though and that put him on edge. He was still wondering how they were going to deal with Saren. As he had felt earlier back on Ilos, Saren was just as powerful as New Growth and been.

New Growth had easily slapped Shepard around like he was a doll back on Feros and even with the help of his team, New Growth had merely shrugged off their attacks. Sure Saren wouldn't have New Growth's thick skin or the ability to mess with their weapons, but his biotics would certainly be on par with New Growth. It was only through that form Shepard had gone into that they had succeeded in their battle with New Growth. Thinking about it, Shepard had never managed to gone into that form since Noveria. He was right on the cusp of controlling as evidenced when he intimidated Wrex with it. His mother had told him that he would be able to control it when the moon in his inner world would be full. It only had a sliver of darkness to go before being a full moon. He could always feel it, even now. Laying there, beneath the surface. That reservoir of power that was ready to come out. If only he knew how to bring it out!

Gunfire got his attention as a few rounds impacted against his shield. Nine geth were coming at them from up the stairs firing at them. He concentrated on his barrier before using overload, managing to hit four of the geth as he fired with his assault rifle. Tali followed his lead with using an overload as well, catching two of them as Ashley used her Kovalyov assault rifle and destroyed the geth Tali had hit. Liara caught three of them in a singularity with Garrus destroying them with his own assault rifle. Kaidan and Wrex both took point and looked for any extra geth. Seeing none, they motioned for the others to come up. Shepard could hear the battle raging outside the Tower. Some of the fighters on both sides managed to stay in the Citadel and seemed to fighting. That or C-Sec had taken to the air with the station's defense and was desperately trying not to be destroyed by the geth ships circling Sovereign. Shepard got ahead of everyone else sensing Saren's biotic presence.

"He's up there." He said before running up the stairs to the Podiums with everyone running behind him. Saren heard the gun fight that happened and knew exactly who it was. He had a turian smirk on as he quickly typed away before dismissing the terminal. He turned around to see Shepard and his team. He felt excitement course through him at being able to test his new powers finally. Everyone raised their weapons and shot at him instantly. He raised his hand and a barrier formed around him. The rounds slammed into the barrier, hitting it with such ferocity, but the barrier held strong against it, not even flashing or losing strength in the slightest. Their weapons overheated eventually, but Saren's barrier hadn't even lost a quarter of its strength from the barrage.

Saren, seeing an opening, leapt at the group. Landing between all of them, he attacked the closest one near him. The one he had attacked was Wrex. He attacked the krogan with an assault of quick, but powerful blows to the face. Wrex managed dodge the first two but was unable to dodge the rest. Saren then gave a biotic strike to the stomach, sending the battlemaster flying onto his back. Seeing what was going to happen, everyone holstered their still-cooling weaponry and brought out their melee attacks. Ashley had a singular omni-blade cover her right arm. Kaidan and Garrus both had dual omni-blades cover their arms. Tali's omni-tool flared to life with fire on the edge of it showing everyone that she had an incendiary omni-tool blade. Liara's hands glowed with biotic power, ready to give more than a few biotic blasts. Finally, Shepard's omni-tools covered both his arms. One could see through them that his hands were glowing with biotic energy. His omni-tools were in a standard form, ready to change into something more or deactivate so he may use his biotics at moment's notice.

Saren grinned at them as they charged him. He blocked Ashley's slash to his head before grabbing Tali's omni-tool covered fist by the wrist. He had had enough of those punches from Shepard the few times he's met him. Kaidan and Garrus tried to charge at him, ready to slash him with their own omni-blades. In response, Saren kicked Tali's feet from under and threw her at Kaidan. The quarian crashed into the sentinel, knocking them both to the ground. With his hand free, he punched Ashley in the stomach with enough force for her to come off the ground. With him still holding here arm he used his biotics to affect her weight, making her briefly weightless before flinging her around and hitting Garrus who was close enough to strike Saren. The turian and the soldier were knocked away from the rogue spectre with little effort on his part.

Liara attempted to hit him with a biotic strike, but Saren merely parried the hand away from him before gripping her arm and stomach and flipped her over him to Shepard. These people were certainly above average soldiers, but to him, they were too slow. He looked back to Shepard thinking the asari would crash into him or that Shepard would try to catch her. Shepard surprised him by flipping around Liara's form with an electric omni-blade in his right hand and a biotic thrash ready in his left.

'Sorry, Liara! But Saren was expecting it!' Shepard mentally apologized before striking Saren with the electric omni-blade. It weakened his shields as Shepard thrust his left hand towards Saren's torso. Saren gripped his hand before he could make contact, believing that he wouldn't take any damage. He was proven wrong as the biotic thrash was close enough to fire the required force which sent Saren back. His talons scraped Shepard's armored wrist as he was sent back. The talons on his feet screeched as they dragged across the metal floor of the chambers. Saren took out his pistol, ready to fire at Shepard, before he suddenly tackled by Wrex who had gotten back up from being struck by Saren's biotic blast. The force from the tackle caused Saren to drop his pistol before using the momentum to through Wrex off of him.

He was about take out his geth pulse rifle when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Shepard was coming at him with a power strike in each hand. He reacted instantly by making another barrier. Shepard slammed both of his power strikes into Saren's barrier with full force. Shepard's dual power strikes bore into Saren's barrier forcing the rogue spectre to keep his focus on maintaining his barrier's strength which was rapidly losing power due to the strain of Shepard's attack. The barrier rippled and bent to the combined force of the dual power strikes before said attacks exploded sending Shepard skidding away. Saren quickly got out his rifle and aimed it at Shepard before his barrier flashed from unexpected gunfire from the rest of Shepard's team. Seems their guns were done cooling. Saren was suddenly lifted up. Liara raised her hand up and swiped her hand to the left. Saren was flung towards the podium as a result.

Shepard got out his pistol and ran after him. As soon as he got to the podium, he saw the top of Saren's fringe as the rogue specter jumped off of it to the area below. He narrowed his eyes as he heard the familiar sound of a hovercraft. He heard everyone come up behind him as Saren rose, standing on his hovercraft. Saren tossed a grenade at the which made Shepard and his team dive for cover. Saren fired at them when they jumped as the grenade exploded. Shepard took cover by the rail. He looked for the rest of his friends to see there of them took cover by the other rail while the others had fallen down the stairs and took cover there.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be here, Shepard." Saren spoke. Shepard was panting a little from the exertion his body was feeling. In no less than a few moments Saren had manage to nearly overwhelm them with brute force alone, taken more than few attacks from him and his team and he was still not tired. How could he have gotten so strong?

"Had to wipe out a few hundred of your followers along the way. Sorry if I kept you waiting." Shepard replied back hoping to stall for time to recover a little. Saren snorted at his attempt at humor.

"You've lost. You know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control of all the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. The Reapers will return." He had said with such certainty.

"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." Shepard was thinking of way to turn the situation to his advantage. If he wasn't fast enough, then what Saren said will be true. Sovereign would take control.

"You've survived our encounter on Virmire. But I've changed since then. Improved. Sovereign has... upgraded me." AS he said that Shepard leaned slightly out to look at Saren and saw the turian's implants glow blue. Shepard was in shock from the new information. That was how Saren was so strong now.

"You let Sovereign implant you? Are you insane!?" Shepard questioned him. Back on Virmire, Saren had been worried about indoctrination. What part of resisting it required him too take a piece of that monster inside him?

"You don't understand, Shepard. There is a place for organics in the new order. The Reapers need men and women of action. People like us. Sovereign recognizes your value. You've impressed it. Surrender to the Reapers and you will be spared. Join us and we can find a place for you, too." Saren looked at his his hand as it closed with biotic power coursing around him before looking back at Shepard's hiding spot. Shepard shook his head at Saren's offer.

"I'd rather die than live like that!" Shepard roared back knowing what joining them would be like. He had seen enough people almost become slaves, been slaves. He wasn't about to join them. Not after how much he dedicated his life to finishing slavers off. Saren grew incensed at Shepard resistance.

"Then you will die. And your companions. Everyone you know and love. Everyone you've ever met. Don't you understand? You will all die! The Reapers can't be stopped. Not by the Protheans. Not by you. The cycle always continues." Shepard's eyes narrowed at that last line. Those were the same words that Sovereign used. That same line that was spoken as if it were absolute.

"Sovereign's controlling you through your implants! Don't you see that?" Saren merely shook his head.

"The relationship is symbiotic. Organic and machine intertwined, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth!" Saren said closing his fist as his implants flared blue.

"The Reapers don't use organics! They devour and discard them! As soon as the conquest is over, you'll be cast aside!" Shepard's argument sparked something in Saren from deep down. Something that had been buried long ago when he discovered Sovereign.

"I had no choice! You saw the visions. You saw what happened to the Protheans! Surrender or death-there are no other options!" Saren argued back with much more passion than before.

"You could have resisted. You could have fought! Instead, you surrendered. You quit." Shepard said, his tone accusatory. Saren thought over Shepard's words, doubt rising back up inside him. After all this time he did go along with Sovereign without really fighting against it.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe there is still a chance for-unh!" Saren cringed in pain as his implants felt like the were lit on fire. He could hear a voice inside his head. Talking him to kill Shepard and trust in Sovereign.

"The implants..." Saren said realizing what was going on. "Sovereign is too strong. I'm sorry. It's too late for me." Saren said desponded. So this was how it would be. He allowed Sovereign in, and in response he lost everything. He was about to give in again when Shepard spoke up, coming out of his cover.

"There is still one way to stop this... if you have the guts." Saren's fingers twitched of his own free will... whatever remained of it. This human... Yes. Yes, he could stop Sovereign. All that he needs to do so was for himself to be out of the way. Saren held his hand out and summoned his pistol from where he dropped it. The pistol flew to his hand as everyone stepped out of their cover, all guns trained on him. Yes, this was it. He looked at the group assembled and was briefly remained of something he heard long ago. Something that he once scoffed at the mere notion of. A united galaxy against the Reapers. His eyes turned to Shepard as he pressed the barrel to his own jaw.

"Goodbye, Shepard. Thank you." He pulled the trigger and all went white.

The team watched as Saren's eyes lost their power, going dead as his body fell from the hovercraft and shattered the glass under him. The glass landed around him as his body rested on the rock under the podium. Shepard looked at Saren's corpse for a while longer before going to the terminal. He connected to it with his omni-tool and uploaded the data file that Garrus had given him. Getting a confirmation sound, he looked over his shoulder to his team.

"Vigil's data file worked. I've got control of the systems." Shepard said as he looked over the controls.

"Quick! Open the station's arms. Maybe the fleet can take Sovereign down before he regains control of the station!" Ashley said almost shouting.

"See if you can open a communications channel." Liara added. Shepard opened the comm channel first thinking it'd be best to know how the fleet is doing. The comm opened up with a distress call already broadcasting.

"... the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down 40%. The Council is on board. I repeat, the Council is on board." Well that wasn't good. Then another voice came through the comm.

'Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that's you, Shepard." Joker's voice sounded out. Shepard was relieved to hear the voice of his pilot.

"I'm here, Joker." Shepard spoke into the mic.

"We caught that distress call, Shepard. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet. We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays and we'll send the calvary in!" Joker replied back. Shepard thought it over. The Alliance's fleet mixed with what's left would definitely help take out Sovereign but first they'd have to get through the geth. That'll cut the forces down greatly.

"You can't sacrifice human lives to save the Council. What have they ever done for us?" Wrex asked seeing Shepard's hesitation.

"This is bigger than humanity. Sovereign's a threat to every organic species in the galaxy." Garrus retorted.

"Exactly! We can't throw all our reinforcements trying to save the Council. We have to hold them back until Sovereign's exposed." Ashley said backing up Wrex.

"If we do that, and wait and we stop Sovereign then Humanity may very well be alone when the Reapers do come through here." Kaidan said backing up Garrus. Tali ended up siding with Ashley and Wrex while Liara sided with Kaidan and Garrus. The group, except for Shepard didn't hear Joker speaking.

"What's the order, Shepard! Come in now to save the Ascension, or hold back?" Shepard thought it over before noticing something.

"Why ask me about this? I don't have any control over the Alliance fleet." Shepard asked.

"Because Admiral Hackett is here commanding this fleet along with several others here who are differing to your judgment. You are already on the station and you do have control of the relays right now. They're waiting for your order, Shepard." Joker replied back. Shepard weighed the pros and cons. On one hand: Alliance fleet saves the Council, loses a few ships in doing so, but gets the Ascension which could make up for any losses. Both attack Sovereign, destroy it, Humanity may very well get a seat on the Council and the galaxy is more unified than before.

On the other hand: Alliance fleet holds back or goes after Sovereign, Ascension gets destroyed along with the Council and its crew of 10,000, people find out through the families of said crew as well as surviving witnesses, Humanity loses a lot of trust, could end up taking a control of Council in absence of said leaders and this side of the galaxy nearly goes belly up. Yeaaa-No. Shepard began typing on the console, ordering the relays to open.

"Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Ascension-no matter the cost!" Shepard order as he hit the button. Seeing this everyone turned around to see the Citadel arms opening up.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Shepard." Ashley whispered out uncertainly.

* * *

Outside with the fleet

* * *

The battle had been going terribly. The fleet held its own taking on the geth and when relatively on par with each other until that super dreadnought, Sovereign rammed its way through. Because of it, several dreadnoughts and fighters managed to get around the fleet and attack it form behind. The Ascension was under heavy fire, surrounded by six geth dreadnoughts. Their fighters had been destroyed and now the Destiny Ascension was reaching its limits, sporting more than a few holes in her hull. That was when the Citadel's arms began to open. Her scanners suddenly picked up something from the relay. The Council watched wondering what was going to happen. Was it reinforcements? If so, for whom? Did one of their people manage to get control of the station? All they could tell was it was huge amount of ships coming out of the relay.

The Normandy zoomed out of the relay followed by a fleet consisting of Alliance dreadnoughts, cruisers, frigates and fighters. The Council heard the transmission go over all channels.

"Alliance ships move in! Save the Destiny Ascension!" The navigator looked and saw the fleet heading straight towards the Ascension. Hope was rekindled.

"Commander, we're picking up reinforcements!" She said causing Matriarch Lidanya to come over near her seat. She looked at the fleet and saw the familiar symbols.

"It's the Alliance! Thank the Goddess!" She said with much relief. The Council looked on already knowing what may happen now. But for the moment, they concentrated on the fact they, along with their forces, were saved in no small part due to the Alliance and whomever got the relay's controls back.

The fleet fired their torpedoes and missiles at the geth ships, already having the firing solutions. The missiles barraged the geth ships, destroying several of them. The geth fleet turned to the new presence in the battle and fired at them in return. The Normandy maneuvered away form the incoming missiles that destroyed a few cruisers. Joker swerved the ship out of the away, narrowly avoiding a fighter that was destroyed and threatened to crash into the cockpit. The fleet pressed on having destroyed the ships, making for the Citadel. AS the Normandy zoomed past it, Joker gave them the all clear.

"Destiny Ascension, you are all clear. Repeat-you are all clear." The Normandy zoomed past a destroyed geth dreadnought just in time to see the Citadel's arms opening.

"The Citadel's opening! All ships move in! Concentrate on Sovereign!" Hackett ordered as the Normandy flew through the arms. Sovereign noticed the ships coming towards it. Seeing that there was no escaping the battle and not willingly to abandon its mission after coming so close, it prepared itself for battle, engaging its extra laser cannons. It had sensed Saren's life signs stop a few moments ago of his own accord. Its tool had broken free of him. The organic, Shepard, was inside the tower and had managed to take control of the station. The audacity! He was irrelevant! His companions were irrelevant! His species and all the other organics were all irrelevant! The only things that mattered, that must be kept in absolution were the Creator, him and his brethren, and the cycle. The cycle MUST continue! With this in mind, Sovereign activated something besides its own personal defenses.

* * *

Inside the Tower

* * *

Shepard and company watched as the arms opened up and the fleet came rushing in. Sovereign would be stopped now. Shepard looked down at Saren's corpse. He couldn't sense anything from him anymore. A pistol shot to the head would have put him down, not to mention that fall but he couldn't take that chance. He looked over his shoulder to his team.

"Make sure he's dead." He ordered. Everyone nodded and walked down to the level. Everyone surrounded his corpse, guns ready as Wrex walked up to Saren. He took his pistol and shot the turian in the head.

"If he wasn't dead then, he's dead now." Wrex muttered before looking back up at Shepard and nodded. Shepard nodded back and was ready to tell them to come back up when he felt something. He felt the electricity coming into the room in vast quantities. The electricity came in and coalesced around them, filling the air with red bolts of energy. The ground shook causing them to stumble. That was when Shepard saw the electricity go straight to Saren. The turian's corpse twitched and seizure. He could have sworn he heard Saren actually begin screaming and grunting from it all. Then Shepard's eyes widened in horrified realization as he felt the corpse's biotic powers return and actually surpass what it was previously.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" He screamed to his friends, knowing what was going to happen. They nodded and ran to the door leading to his level but it closed and was locked down, preventing any swift escape. A red shockwave came from the corpse blowing everyone against the wall. The force was so powerful that it ruptured something in the supports on the podium Shepard was standing on. It couldn't take his weight and bent downward. Shepard lost his footing and slid off of it toward the ground below. Shepard used his biotics to cushion his fall before landing on the ground. Saren's corpse stood up, still screaming and bathed in red electricity. The team gathered around Shepard as they watched the corpse transform. Shepard got on his feet and saw what was happening.

Saren's flesh practically cooked of his bones. His talons elongated becoming sharper. What was left of his flesh fell off of him as he moved his mechanical joints around. His eyes glowed with a more intense red light. His lower jaw had fallen off of his mouth. The inside of his chest now held a red power core and his armor had now welded onto his arms and legs. He was more machine now then anything else, but somehow Saren's biotic nodules and amp had survived the transformation. Shepard took out his rifle and put his helmet on for good measure with everyone else following suit. This fight was going to be tougher than all the others they'd been in. The husk of Saren stared at them for a few seconds before crouching down, hand poised in the air to grasp something. It spoke in Saren's voice, but it was obviously not Saren anymore.

"I AM SOVEREIGN! AND THIS STATION IS **MINE!**" Sovereign raised a clawed hand to Shepard and suddenly all of his weapons overheated. Without wasting a second, the avatar of Sovereign leapt to the wall, firing energy balls at them. Shepard and the rest of the biotics made a barrier of their combined strength which held against the energy ball barrage. However, the continuous attack as Sovereign's avatar jumped around them kept them from firing back without getting hurt or leaving the barrier. What was most concerning was the fact that it was taking each of the biotics' concentration to hold the barrier up from the onslaught.

"Dammit! We're pinned down." Shepard growled out.

"We need a plan to take this bastard out!" Garrus said as he followed Sovereign with his gun. Shepard glanced around the area. They were sitting ducks in this position and there was not much cover save for the rock formation behind them. Not only that, but with Sovereign on the move, that cover won't help much so that leaves moving around and dodging. This fight was going to be about power and mobility. Shepard paid attention to Sovereign's movements. It acted and fought like a geth hopper, so maybe the same attacks they used on the hoppers would work in this situation. If he is fighting like this, and with his body in the state it is, neural shock won't work and singularity may not either. Those energy balls are mostly electric with just a small amount biotic power thrown meaning some sabotage could affect that. Stasis could be extremely useful in this fight, but his shields will have to down for it to take affect. Not only that but in such close quarters and with the speed Sovereign is moving in, sniper rifles will be next to useless here.

"Tech users!" Shepard called out making Garrus, Tali, and Kaidan's attention shift to him. "When Sovereign stops at one place, use sabotage on him to knock out his energy gun."

Biotics!" This time Wrex, Liara and Kaidan looked at him. "When that happens we have maybe a few moments to use throw, lift or stasis on him to stun him. Avoid using singularity or neural shock on him. His body is mostly likely immune to both and if not, singularity would be too slow."

"Everyone!" His whole team looked at him now. "Keep moving around. Don't stay in one place for too long otherwise you're dead. Use only mid-range and short-range weaponry. Stick to plan and wait for an opening. And when that happens use everything you got on him!" Sovereign jumped again.

"RIGHT!" Everyone shouted. As soon as Sovereign landed, Shepard and the team's biotics dropped the barrier. Garrus pointed at Sovereign and used sabotage. Sensing danger, Sovereign jumped again narrowly missing Garrus' attack. Shepard followed Sovereign's pattern, his omni-tool covered fist trailing him. Just as Sovereign made it to his new position Shepard felt his biotics go haywire and his omni-tools shut off.

'Shit! He used damping on me too? I'm almost helpless!' Shepard thought just before his omni-tools popped back on. One of the perks of having an AI inside them.

"Ugh. What a headache." Isaac groaned through the speakers in his helmet.

"Thanks Isaac." Shepard whispered.

"You're welcome, but you won't be able to use your tech abilities for a short while." Shepard felt his biotic powers starting to come back already as he got out his shotgun. Sovereign almost fired an energy ball at Shepard, but Tali managed to hit him with a sabotage attack. Sovereign's energy ball shrank until it disappeared completely. Sovereign looked at her before his body gained a biotic aura around it. Raising its hand to her, Sovereign flicked it away. Tali was thrown into the wall behind them, yelping on impact. The rest of the team fired at Sovereign with Ashley and Garrus using overkill on it. Sovereign's shield was struck by the attack before moving away. The husk was caught by Kaidan using damping to weaken its powers. The damping had only a small affect on the creature as it turned its attention to him. It stuck its hand out and fired a scattered shot which destroyed Kaidan's shields and went through his armor.

He fell on his back from the powerful carnage attack. He used some media-gel to heal his wounds but it would take time. Wrex tried to attack Sovereign with his own carnage but the husk jumped out of the way before leaping right at him. The husk's sharp talons tore through his shields and armor and into him. Sovereign lifted Wrex up with one arm and threw him onto the other side of the garden they were fighting on. Garrus tried to help and managed to get a few shots in before Sovereign turned it him and raised his hand. An assassination bullet fired from Sovereign's open palm and went right through Garrus, shields and all. The turian coughed up blood as he knelt on the ground and applied some media-gel. The husk was enveloped in a biotic lift. Shepard smirked feeling his biotics were back. The husk hopelessly floated into the air which gave Shepard, Ashley and Liara the time they needed to fire at it, whittling its shields down. The husks powers came back as well which allowed it break out of the lift. As it fell onto the ground the Liara struck it with a stasis field. It let lose a torrent of red electricity which sent Liara and Ashley flying into the wall. Shepard formed a power strike.

'I've got to make this one count!' He thought as he ran at Saren. He remembered his limit and Chakwas' warning to him, but this needed to be done. They needed this last one, then the team could take Sovereign down when he would fall unconscious from the fatigue. Shepard made it right in front of Sovereign before slamming his power strike into the avatar's weakened shields. Its shields bent and rippled from the attack before the power strike exploded finally destroying its shields. Shepard noticed his team had gotten up and aimed at Sovereign as he began to fall from the fatigue his body was feeling. Then Sovereign surprised him as he was suddenly flung back by electrical energy.

* * *

With the battle outside the Tower

* * *

The fleets had combined and attacked Sovereign having finished off the geth. The ancient ship wouldn't go down without a fight, however. Every ship was concentrating all of their combined firepower and bearing down on Sovereign, but his shields held strong against the attacks. Sovereign extended his arms and fired a red death ray form it. The red laser hit an Alliance dreadnought, instantly destroying it. Sovereign continued this, attacking any and all ships in his range of fire.

The Normandy flew past Sovereign, dodging its way out of the destroyed and flaming debris of the Alliance ships that had been too close to Sovereign. Joker was doing everything he could to make sure Sovereign was hit by the Normandy's continued attacks as he fired several of his own missiles at the Reaper.

"Sovereign's too strong! We have to pull back!" joker glanced at the comm where the channel was listening in on.

"Negative! This is our only chance! Take that monster down, no matter what the cost!" Hackett's voice replied coming over the channel. Joker couldn't agree more with the Admiral as he zoomed around Sovereign, narrowly avoiding a death ray aimed at the Normandy.

* * *

Back in the Council Chambers

* * *

Shepard and the team were now held against the wall, magnetized by electrical energy and separated, as Sovereign's husk boosted its shields. Once its shields were back full strength, the husk turned to Shepard.

"YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOUR WORLDS WILL BURN. THE CYCLE MUST CONTINUE." Sovereign spoke. Shepard was fighting to stay conscious as everyone else struggled to free themselves. Shepard noticed his omni-tool flare to life before suddenly turning off.

'Isaac.. what are you-?' Shepard thought before noticing Sovereign's husk seize movement. His eyes widened. 'Oh no.'

In cyberspace, Sovereign noticed something go into his systems. At first he believed it to be some attack the organics but then reconsidered his assumption. They were unable to reach their primitive computers so what was it? He eventually found it the cause of the disturbance in the form of another AI.

**"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" **Sovereign demanded. How dare this insect stand in his way.

"Helping my friend. Pleased to meet you Sovereign. I'm Isaac Clarke." Isaac spoke trying to find a way to deactivate whatever Sovereign was using to hold the team against the wall. What the AI said confused Sovereign.

**"FRIEND? A SYNTHETIC HAS NO FRIENDS OUTSIDE OF OTHER SYNTHETICS. WHO ARE YOU WITH?" **Sovereign asked as it blocked Isaac's attempts.

"Shepard." Isaac simply said before he found what he was looking for.

**"THE ORGANIC? YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL TO HIM. SYNTHETICS AND ORGANICS COULD NEVER TRULY BE ALLIES. YOU'RE SUPPOSED FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM IS FALSE!" **Sovereign immediately denied Isaac. Isaac began accessing what he needed.

"You're entitled to your opinion, Sovereign. But I don't believe you. Out of everyone in this galaxy, he's the one who understands me best. He helps give my life purpose. And he had risked non-functionality, death, for me. He's kept me safe from the dangers that his species and kind would've presented me if they had found me out. We've protected each other ever since the beginning. I don't expect you, who uses people as tools, to understand Sovereign. But i won't allow you to harm from friend any further." Isaac said as he almost cracked it. Unknown to either of the two something far more ancient was listening to the conversation with much interest. Of all of the cycles before, it had never come in contact with an AI that believed and lived in such harmony with organics before. Shame that its child did not believe in such things. Isaac was suddenly locked out and isolated away from any controls.

**"NAIVETE COMING FROM SUCH A YOUNG AI MUST BE RECTIFIED. ORGANICS AND SYNTHETICS CAN NEVER LIVE IN HARMONY, SAVE FOR THE CYCLE ITSELF. I WILL REEDUCATE YOU."**

"Not happening!" Isaac said as he struggled to find a way to regain some control.

**"THEN YOU WILL...** BE DESTROYED!" Everyone suddenly became electrified and screamed out, feeling the pain coursing through them. Shepard heard Sovereign speak the last part and knew instantly what he was talking about. No. Not Isaac! Not his best friend who had been with him for so long. No. NO! Sovereign had already taken enough from the galaxy! He had already put Shepard, his other friends and love interests through hell. Sovereign could mess with the galaxy. Sovereign could use people. But when he tries to take his friends from him, he's gone too far! Shepard felt the power welling up inside of him come out. The aura was so strong that it released him from Sovereign's power. His fatigue and pain was gone. His aura shined over him as his eyes glowed white.

"SOVEREIGN!" Shepard roared before charging at Sovereign. The Reaper's avatar turned its attention to Shepard before it was struck by a biotic charge. Not giving the husk any openings, Shepard sat at on it and began punching it with biotic strikes. The husk through him off of it before firing an electric beam towards Shepard. The beam could instantly burn through a krogan. Shepard brought his arm up and created a barrier which took the attack head on. The electric attack made the barrier ripple, but didn't destroy it. The husk got back up as its attack ended. Shepard shot a power strike at the creature before it dodged the attack, jumping to a wall. Just before the power strike impacted on the wall behind Sovereign, Shepard brought his hand back and the power strike changing direction and struck Sovereign. The husk fell to the ground. Shepard almost charged at it but his body was overcome by pain. He was forced to his knees as the pain became more intense.

"YOUR WEAK ORGANIC BODY CANNOT CONTROL THE POWER INSIDE IT. YOUR VERY POWER WILL RIP YOUR BODY TO SHREDS. THERE IS NO NEED TO ATTACK YOU NOW." Sovereign stated rising up. Shepard watched as Sovereign turned his back to him to continue his friends' torture. He grew angry at himself for not being able to control his own power. No! He refused to allow it to end like this! Through sheer force of will, Shepard got back on his feet. He looked at Sovereign with such hate in his eyes. he never felt any hatred such as this before. Not even with the slavers. Unknown to him blue electricity began to arc off of him, disrupting Sovereign's red electric torture. The Reaper's husk looked back at Shepard in silence, trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone looked at Shepard and couldn't believe what they were seeing. His biotic aura grew more intense and covered his body completely. His eyes changed from glowing white orbs to reveal his normal eyes had changed. They were still blue, but the iris was different. It looked like it was implanted with a circuit. (Guess whose eyes he has!)

His body was healed and the pain faded away. The power coursing through him was far stronger than he had felt before. Sovereign jumped towards Shepard who biotic charged him in mid-air. The husk was smashed into the wall, stuck in hole made from the impact. Shepard jumped away from it. The creature struggled for a little before extracting itself from the wall. Seeing, this Shepard placed his hands outward towards the husk. A power strike formed in between his hands and got bigger and bigger.

"I call this a super power strike." Shepard as he fired it at Sovereign. Red electricity fired out of the walls and into the husk as the super power strike slammed into its shields. The red electricity reinforced its shields which were put under incredible strain barely holding against the attack. The explosion sent the husk back crashing into the wall. Shepard's power was obviously overwhelming the avatar. seeing the need to lick its wounds, Sovereign leaped out of the garden and up into the rafters. The team was released from the magnetic hold. Shepard's gaze followed Sovereign as it disappeared from sight. His team came up to him.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara asked in concern. Shepard looked at them briefly before looking back up.

"Yes, never better actually." He answered. everyone followed his gaze trying to the husk. sadly they couldn't with all the smoke and darkness in the way.

"Can anyone see him?" Ashley asked as she took out her rifle looking for him. Everyone but Shepard gave a no.

"I can." Shepard said. Garrus looked at him then back before his gaze fell on Shepard.

"How?" He asked.

"I don't know if its this new power of something, but I think I can see biotic and electric energy." Shepard said causing them to look at him like he grew a second head. Shepard could see many orange lights going all over Tali just underneath her robes and he could see purple orbs of light inside the biotics of his team just along their skeletons. And he could see Sovereign's husk. The shape that was outlined by the electricity and orbs that dotted its frame. Shepard raised one hand up fully and a super power strike was formed. He didn't fire it as he concentrated on it. The super power strike compressed in on itself and got smaller and smaller until it was the size of a grapefruit. The power radiated off of it in waves making his team back away from him. Shepard lowered it before sticking his other hand up towards where Sovereign was hiding.

"Time to end this with my new move: Super mini power strike!" Everyone suddenly remembered what Shepard had said. The smaller and more compressed a power strike was, the more powerful it became. Shepard biotically pulled Sovereign's husk down. The husk came down from the rafters having not expected the pull. Shepard thrust his hand upward, right into the husk's stomach. The SMPS destroyed the shields and destroyed the body. Isaac managed to escape back into Shepard's omni-tools before impacting since Sovereign was too distracted from the unexpected development. The husk's body disintegrated as its own power ran through, destroying it for good.

* * *

Outside in orbit

* * *

The feedback was too strong for Sovereign to handle. The Reaper became covered in red electricity, short circuiting it. Sovereign lost grip on the Tower and fell from it, floating away. The Normandy seeing this flew through the debris directly under Sovereign before flying up past the Reaper.

"Its shields are down! Now's our chance!" Joker called in as the Normandy flew high over Sovereign before nose-diving to the Reaper.

"hit with everything we've got!" Hackett said through the comm. On his order, the remaining dreadnoughts fired at the disabled Reaper, damaging its hull.

"Hard on my flank! We're going in!" Joker called out to the other pilots as the Normandy closed in on Sovereign with other fighters joining up behind him. The Normandy fired along with the other ships. The missile hit the Reaper, going through it leaving an exit wound. the Normandy passed the Reaper just before it exploded in red fire.

* * *

Inside the Chambers

* * *

Everyone heard the explosion and turned to look out the window just in time to see Sovereign's debris floating towards the Chambers. Shepard looked at his team quickly still in his form.

"GO!" He roared before everyone ran for it. The debris crashed into the room which could be seen by all outside in orbit.

* * *

**I hope you've enjoyed it. We got one last chapter to go before the end of this story. So be watching for it!**

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	38. Epilogue: Achievements and Endgame

**Well here it is. The last chapter... for the first part of the trilogy. I got to say I'm a little disappointed in the lack of reviews. You know a 'It was good' would go a long way with me whether its guests or members.**

**This chapter may be shorter than most and for that I'm sorry.**

* * *

Recap: Everyone heard the explosion and turned to look out the window just in time to see Sovereign's debris floating towards the Chambers. Shepard looked at his team quickly still in his form.

"GO!" He roared before everyone ran for it. The debris crashed into the room which could be seen by all outside in orbit.

* * *

Now

* * *

It had been an hour before anyone could get to the Council Chambers. The emergency lights had come on in the Tower with the alarms still blaring. The elevator worked which was good. David Anderson came out dressed in his dress blues uniform with several C-Sec officers behind him. The second they stepped out, they were met by a cloud of smoke before going further in. They were in shocked awe at the destruction the room had taken.

Sovereign's debris, an incredibly small portion of the Reaper, filled the room, covering most of it. Some of the trees had been smashed by the rubble while others were still on fire. Parts of the Reaper were still powered up somehow but they ignored it. This was the place where the team was last seen and heard.

"Spread and search for them! Make sure all seven are accounted for!" Anderson ordered. The C-Sec agents nodded and scoured over the room looking for any signs of life. Their omni-tools activated the flashlight feature since the room was considerable dark. Anderson joined in to after a few minutes of waiting. He had spent a majority of his time before the attack sitting in a prison cell. When the attacked he was let out and given pistol. He helped Citadel Security get the civilians away from the geth while taking a few out himself. After more than an hour of being under siege, some crazy biotic came destroying geth, laughing like a maniac and wielding a piece of rebar that had been fashioned into a sword.

The biotic had told him that Shepard and his team made it onto the station and were on their way to stop Saren at the Tower before the biotic went to find more geth to kill. So here Anderson was after having changed, leading a rescue team of people who had kept him in a cell previously, sifting through rubble trying to find the team that saved their lives.

"Captain Anderson! We found some of them! In here!" One of the agents said detecting two life signs. The agent began to move the rubble away with Anderson helping him. Once some of the rubble was cleared they've found them. It was the turian, Garrus Vakarian, and the asari, Liara T'Soni.

"We got four over here!" Someone shouted further away from them. The quarian, Tali'Zorah, was the first to come out followed by Ashley Williams. Next came Kaidan Alenko followed by the krogan, Urdnot Wrex. Everyone gathered before Anderson, clutching their sides, arm or torso while others were limping. Everyone was fidgeting and were looking around rapidly as if looking for something. Sensing their growing worry, Anderson spoke.

"Take it easy... it's over. You're safe now." His words did nothing as they kept looking around more and more frantically before they looked down to the ground sadly. That was when he noticed they were short one person.

"Where's Shepard?" He asked, thinking what they had thought. Tali shook her negatively before all of them looked to where Council's Podium was. Anderson looked where their line of sight was and frowned. The entire area where the Council's and Petitioner's Podiums were was completely crushed and covered by rubble. No one could've survived that. Not even Shepard. Anderson felt sadness believing what they believed.

Shepard was gone. Dead. The galaxy had lost another good person among countless others today. Anderson began to usher everyone to nearest clinic. As they walked away, Ashley supported Liara. Both looked over their shoulders in sadness at the heap of rubble that had buried the man they loved before continuing on.

* * *

Shepard gasped in pain. It was dark at the moment, save for blue lights around him. He couldn't move his left arm so well and he was having trouble breathing. Not only that but his head was hurting and he wanted to puke. During the fight with Sovereign, his helmet had been destroyed somehow so blood was trickling from his head too. The pain in his torso was bad. It felt like someone was sitting on his stomach. He started to recognize his surroundings. The familiar dark purple metal and the wires. He was under some part of Sovereign that crashed into the Tower. He felt around his limbs. Everywhere was sore but not painful like his ribs and arm.

"I-Isaac. Y-You there?" He called out hoping his best friend was okay.

"Yes, Shepard. I'm here. Don't move around so much." Shepard stilled.

"Why?"

"From your suit's scans, you've got a few broken ribs and your left shoulder is dislocated. I can't do anything about your shoulder, but I'm applying some medi-gel to help alleviate the pain from your ribs."

"Okay. Give me the run down on my suit. What kind of damage am I facing with it?" Isaac paused for a moment before answering.

"Your suit is mostly damaged. Your modifications to it have also been quite damaged. The VI in your medical exoskeleton has been knocked out operating capacity hence why I'm operating it to give you your medi-gel. Your shield interface has been rendered nonfunctional. Your armor itself is cracked and broken in several places. I would avoid walking out in an airless, zero gravity environment while still wearing this if I were you. Shepard smirked as the pain faded down to a tolerable level.

"Right, thanks." He used his biotic pulse ability. He found everyone in a group further away from him. Unknown to him, his eyes glowed with a circuit pattern again. He could see where his friends were now. He focused on his power and felt come out. Electricity arced of him briefly before his biotic aura enveloped him. The electricity disappeared as he used his biotic powers to blast the rubble off of him. The meat parts flew away and crashed with bang as he felt the power leave him. His sight returned to normal, noticing that he was right at the edge of the garden that was directly under the podiums. He climbed up the rubble and ran to them.

* * *

Anderson was helping Tali who was limping to the elevator. The team of C-Sec agents were there helping everyone else, making sure they were walking properly or trying to help with some medi-gel. That was when Anderson heard something shift behind all of them. Anderson turned around and saw a figure in the distance jump down. He stopped walking and stood looking for any sign of the figure.

Everyone else noticed Anderson's behavior and looked where he was looking. Hope rose in some of the Normandy team, believing that Shepard might be alive. That was when the figure came running up on one of Sovereign's smaller limbs. There on top of it was Shepard. He was bloody, burned a little, clutching his ribs and his arm hung loosely. But there he was alive and grinning. He walked up to them with his grin still on. Everyone was smiling back at him.

"You didn't think that'd put me down, did you?" He asked jokingly.

"Damn, Shepard. You give everyone a hard time don't you?" Anderson replied back with a smile of his own. Shepard was about to say something before his body felt heavy and the back of his head burned. The world span around as his feet tilted back. The last thing he saw was Anderson reach for him before all became black.

* * *

Shepard woke up in a very familiar place. The ground was dirt and grass. There were giant trees reaching ever so high and it was night time. This was his inner world. He looked up and noticed that the moon was full now. Still blue but was now radiating a blue aurora borealis.

"You did it. I knew you could." His mother's voice came from behind him. Shepard turned around before he was engulfed in a hug. She was smiling proudly at him. He smiled back at her as he returned the hug.

"I didn't do it alone." Hannah merely kept smiling at him as she let go and backed away from him.

"I know. You have your friends who helped you, not to mention the crew of your ship." John looked up at the moon.

"So what exactly is this power?" He asked as he looked back at her. Hannah shook her head.

"I'm afraid I do not know the specifics of it. What I do know is how you acquired it." He looked at her expectantly.

"When you change, your eyes change with you." John nodded.

"I know. My eyes glow white." Hannah shook her head at his answer.

"No, that has changed now that you can control it. Your eyes don't glow white anymore. The irises change now. They take a light blue circuit pattern now instead. Not only that but during the fighting, your translator was damaged." John raised any eyebrow at the translator part.

"So?" Hannah eyes narrowed at him. John realized that he had missed something, but what?

"Sovereign destroyed your translator when he sent all of you back with that red electric pulse. And when you transformed your non-human friends spoke to you in their native language." John's eyes widened.

"Which I understood instantly without a translator. I never really bothered to learn other languages since I got that translator." John finished wondering how it was possible.

"I've only seen one other individual have these traits John. And that was your biological father. This power of your's originated from him. At least partially anyway." John nodded before frowning. Hannah smiled at him knowing what he was thinking.

"Don't think this means you and he are alike. You both do bear some similarities, but more than few differences too. You both are charismatic, ingenious and care about people in your own ways. But unlike him, you include everyone, not just humans. He uses his resources and power to raise humanity alone, to disrupt balance. You try to keep the balance in your own or try to raise everyone. While he cares about results, you care about what it took to get those results." Her words helped John somewhat before he remembered something else. Hannah noticed his somber mood as the smile on her face became neutral.

"You really intend to go back, don't you? To Omega?" John nodded.

"Even knowing that there are multiple ways for the Reapers to come back?" John looked at her.

"She's my daughter." He replied softly.

"A daughter who would call this galaxy home. This galaxy that the Reapers will destroy." John looked down at his feet. This had occurred to him on the way to the Citadel Tower during the battle. While the Citadel relay could be a gateway for the Reapers to come through, it wasn't the only way. Hiding out in dark space didn't mean they couldn't move through it to come to the galaxy. Merely take longer before the invasion began.

"Just because you may become a father doesn't mean you can abandon your duty." John looked up at her. Duty? Hannah nodded to him as if reading his mind.

"The Reapers stand for everything you oppose, son. I know you can't walk away from the threat they pose." John knew her words were true.

"Just because I'm going to look after my daughter, doesn't mean I won't stop fighting the Reapers or at least find a way to prevent them from returning." Hannah frowned.

"You may find that things are not going to be the way you think. Especially regarding your child." John's eyes narrowed at her.

"What do you mean?" Hannah sighed already able to tell where his thoughts were going.

"The child is your's, but... something has happened while you were away. Liselle and Aria will still be there, but do not expect a happy reunion." She said looking away. John was about to demand more answers from her before the area became foggy.

"It would appear our time is up. Cherish the people close to you, son, and the time you spend with them. They are the most important things in life to us." With those words, Hannah Shepard disappeared from view.

"Wait! What do you mean? Mom!" John called out before everything went white.

* * *

Shepard's eyes opened up before he squinted them shut. The light was blinding. He tried to move but his body was still sore. His arm was much better as he was able to move it, but his ribs still hurt. He opened his eyes in stages, adjusting to the light. Once they had done so, he took in his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, laying in hospital bed obviously, clad in a hospital getup. Where a wall probably should have been, was instead a window that overlooked the Presidium. Wasn't much to look at considering he could still see cleanup crews. He turned his attention to the rest of the room. The room held all kinds of medical tech that he wouldn't see in a clinic. Advanced operating equipment, heart monitors and scanners. Tables and trays containing medicine, drugs and whatever else they have in a hospital. He looked at his left arm and saw that they attached an IV to him. He flexed his hand to see if his omni-tool came up. It did so thankfully.

"Isaac, you there?"

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Isaac whispered back. Shepard gave relieved sigh. It would have been hell if anyone took his omni-tool with Isaac still inside. Before anything else could be said, the door opened. A doctor walked in before stopping staring at him in shock. The doctor was someone he didn't think would be in the hospital with him, but in all honesty he'd rather not have it anyone else save Dr. Chloe Michel.

"I expected you to wake up earlier, but I must say I'm shocked at your recovery Shepard." Dr. Chakwas said before taking up the datapad by his bedside.

"Hey Chakwas. So whats going on? Why are you in the hospital?" Chakwas glanced at him before going back to the datapad.

"Considering the damage the station took and how many wounded we have coming in, all medical officers whose ships had no wounded were ordered to help assist in the medical facilities here on the station. The clinics on the wards can only take so many and the hospital is filled to the point where we must put people on the floor. And seeing as the Normandy was one of the ships with no wounded onboard, I was called to help here, at Huerta Memorial Hospital."

"In the hospital? Where just so happen to be?" Shepard asked suspiciously. Chakwas smiled at him.

"Captain Anderson remembered your aversion to doctors but had believed you might trust me took look over you given our time together. Not only that but my skills were much more needed in a hospital over one of the clinics. The more seriously injured are transported here hence why I'm here." Shepard nodded seeing the logic.

"Anderson was right about that I guess. You're one of the few doctors I'd trust. What about my team? How are they?"

"They are fine. They were here. Treated and mended. You were in far worse condition than they were. Now they are out helping out wherever they can with the clean up. The other doctors tried to tell them they needed to rest in their beds, but they just mumbled about other people needing it more. That was when they left, though not before checking on you." Shepard smirked at their logic. That was his team. Could never really sit still. And he couldn't either. Shepard got up and dangled his feet over the side.

"Well, I can't let them do all of the work. When can I go?" Chakwas gave Shepard a tired look as she set the datapad down.

"When I say you can." Shepard gave her an annoyed look. Chakwas placed her hands on her hips.

"Glare at me all you want but you won't be leaving. You might leave sooner if you be patient. You'll be out of here faster with my permission over another doctors. I know all about your healing abilities but you still need time to recover."

"I know what my injuries were, Chakwas. They've been healed mostly except for my ribs, which are still feeling sore. My concussion's gone, my shoulder isn't dislocated and my ribs aren't broken anymore."

"They are still cracked though. Those weren't the only injuries you had, Shepard. You also had some second degree burns and a third degree one right where your bio-amp was." Shepard immediately felt the back of his head and felt a rough scarring right where his bio-amp was. Wait a minute.

"What do you mean was?"

"Your bio-amp had been badly damaged in the fight and when you overused it, it burned out. Almost to the point of burning itself out of your head." Shepard felt for it again.

"Don't worry, we replaced it with a newer one. The same type and make of it." Shepard nodded in appreciation.

"We also replaced your omni-tool." Shepard's eyes looked at her in confusion before looking at his hand.

"Your previous ones were also badly damaged, we replaced them with one since we only had the one on hand. The strangest thing happened though. When we removed it, everyone's omni-tools flared to live for a moment before they turned off and once we replaced it, the omni-tools flared again before your new one flared and shutdown along with everyone else." Shepard fought the smirk that was forming on his lips. Sounds like Isaac jumped into everyone's omni-tools before jumping into the new one for him.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you Shepard?" Chakwas asked crossing her arms.

"I have a personalized VI that I made. It was installed in my omni-tools and is set to attack anyone who removes them from me. It must've let you off once it noticed you placed a new back on me." Shepard partially lied. Chakwas looked at him for moment before letting it go. After a few moments of silence, Shepard asked again.

"So can I go?" Chakwas glared at him causing him to be quiet. That was when Hackett walked in along with an Alliance Intelligence officer. Hackett acknowledged Chakwas' presence before looking at Shepard.

"Shepard, I'm surprised you're awake. How are you feeling?" Shepard was about to say something before he caught Chakwas' stone cold look.

"Can't complain." He said simply. Chakwas' look turned into a neutral one before she left at Hackett's order.

"Shepard, I"m going to be frank with you, we've lost a lot of good men and women today. But we could have lost so much more if you hadn't been here. The Council and the Alliance would like to commend you for your achievements." Shepard looked at him confused.

"Okay, you're welcome?" Hackett almost smirked at Shepard's obvious confusion.

"There is an award ceremony that will be happening soon. Everyone would like you to be there." Shepard almost wanted to say no and just leave. But he couldn't exactly do that without making himself look bad in front of a huge portion of the galaxy. Shepard then looked at the other person Hackett and brought in with him.

"Okay I understand, but what's his deal?" He gestured to the man. He was in an Alliance officer's uniform holding a datapad. The Intelligence officer came up to him and shook his hand.

"Mr. Shepard, I'm Staff Analyst Brunson. Admiral Hackett has ordered me to make a profile of you now that we have this chance." Brunson grabbed a seat and sat down while Hackett remained standing. Shepard looked at him bewildered before turning to Hackett.

"Why are you guys making a profile on me?"

"We must make a profile on you so we can have necessary data should we ever need to contact you for your services." Hackett explained. Shepard looked at him with narrowed eyes for moment before sighing and looked at Brunson.

"Okay, ask away." Brunson nodded.

"Okay, here is what we have on you so far-

Name: John Shepard

Occupation: Spectre Inductee of the Council and Ghost of the Terminus

Background Information: Born and raised on Mindoir until age 11. Disappeared for 5 years until settling on Omega at age 16.

Known battles: Repelled slaver invasion on Elysium, Survived thresher maw massacre on Akuze, Ruthlessly destroyed slaver in the Siege of Torfan, took charge in the Battle of the Citadel." Shepard raised a brow at that. That's what they were calling it huh? Fitting. Brunson continued on.

"Known Aliases: Ghost of the Terminus, Lion of Elysium, Butcher of Torfan, Sole Survivor of Akuze.

Personality Traits: Cunning Tactician, Charismatic, Renegade Paragon," Shepard looked at Hackett questioning who shrugged at him, " Dog of War, a Geth Hunter and a known Completionist."

"Completionist?" Shepard asked.

"Someone who tends to go above and beyond in their mission." Brunson explained before continuing. "That is what we have on you. Now I'm going to ask you some questions. First one, where were you during those 5 years?"

"All over. I was being trained by a mercenary. Learning how to use guns. Soldier training, really." Brunson typed it into the datapad, nodding.

"Interesting. Okay, second question. Where did you receive your training in technology and biotics?"

"My training in tech was partially my mother and mostly me figuring it out and experimenting."

"How old were you?"

"Ten." His answer made both men look at him in shock before Brunson looked back at his datapad.

"Alright, and your biotics?"

"Happened after Elysium. Ended up getting Aria T'Loak of all people to teach me." Hackett shook his head still having a hard time believing that Hannah's son was taught by one of the most powerful asari in the galaxy. Brunson was worse, almost startled by the man sitting in front of him.

"Very well. Lets get to your skill set and class, shall we? First, what class would you say you're in?" Shepard thought about it for minute. Brunson, believing Shepard was trying to remember the classes decided to help him.

"Soldiers deal primarily in weapons, engineers deal in tech, adepts obviously do biotics, infiltrators go in-between soldier and engineer, sentinels go in-between engineers and adepts, and vanguards go in-between adepts and soldiers."

"Is there an 'other' option on that?" Shepard asked sheepishly. Brunson looked at him confused while Hackett actually smirked.

"Pardon? No, we don't. No one has ever been more than the last three."

"Well, I am." Brunson looked at him skeptically.

"Really?" Shepard nodded.

"Yes."

"So you're saying that you have the abilities have a multi-class person?" Shepard nodded again.

"Okay, what would you call this 'multi-class'?" Shepard grinned at the name.

"Juggernaut." At their curious looks he explained. "I thought it over and realizing that I fit all of the criteria for all the classes, I decided to take the name Juggernaut for mine. It fits to me." Brunson merely typed it into the datapad.

"Any expertise in a particular weapon?"

"All of them. I've been trained in all of them and use all of them at least once in a mission." Brunson shook his head at him. Weapons Expert: The combined expertise of all weapons including assault rifles, snipers, shotguns and pistols.

"Do you specialize in any technological abilities?" Shepard grinned.

"All of them." Brunson's eye twitched.

"Again?" Shepard nodded. Brunson put in Tech Specialist: The combined specialization in all tech abilities including hacking, damping, overload, sabotage, first aid, and neural shock.

"Dare I ask about your biotics?" Shepard merely smiled at him. Brunson merely put down Biotic Mastery: Mastery of all biotic abilities including stasis, warp, singularity, lift, barrier and throw.

"Any allies you wish to talk about?"

"My team." Brunson put down their names. And beside their names he put their class, for Kaidan and Ashley, or their species, Liara, Wrex, Tali and Garrus.

"Any other things we might need to know?" Shepard thought it over.

"I've got enough money of my own to be considered rich and I'm an official scholar considering I got most of the galactic codex memorized." Brunson nodded.

"If you were in the Alliance Navy, we'd have to call you an N7 Elite with everything you have, Shepard. Staff Analyst Brunson, I believe we have everything we need."

"Yes sir." Brunson said before leaving. Hackett made for the door before standing in it.

"Shepard, I almost forgot to say, thank you for helping with that hostage situation, the deal with 'Lord' Darius and that mess with the biotic extremists and the scientists."

"No problem, Hackett. Happy to help." Shepard replied before looking out the window. "Oh and Shepard?" He looked back at Hackett.

"Your mother would be proud of the man her son grew into." Shepard smiled at the praise Hackett gave him as the Admiral left.

"I know." He said before laying down.

* * *

Soon enough, Shepard was let out of the hospital. His weapons and armor were returned to him, cleaned and repaired. Shepard had those put into a case alongside his duffle bag for when he would leave. He ran into his friends who let him know they were relieved to see he was ok. Ashley and Liara kissed him in public, much to the shock of the group.

After near constant questioning by the men of the group, Shepard caved in and told them about what happened while Tali interrogated Liara and Ashley about it. Shepard could still feel the jealous glares boring into his back.

Some time later, he was all dressed up on a stage in the Presidium which had been cleaned up first, listening to a speech given by Councilor Tevos. He was sitting next to the entire Normandy crew with Joker on his side.

"I told you I didn't want a medal anymore." Joker said. Shepard remembered the conversation they had earlier in this crazy journey, just after they picked up Liara.

"All I did was mention you. I said nothing about medals. And what are you complaining about? You got to dress casual for this." Shepard whispered back making the pilot snort. It was true. Everyone else on the crew, non-humans included, had to dress up. Even Wrex! Tali's state of dress was a more lightly colored suit but it wasn't that different form her normal suit from what he could see. Everyone in the Alliance was wearing their dress blues which was Pressly's casual attire anyway. Wrex, Garrus and Shepard were wearing black and white versions of elegant clothing for their respective races. Wrex's and Garrus' still looked like it could be used for armor but from the expressions on their faces, Shepard could tell they weren't happy. Shepard was wearing black and white evening wear. He felt a little vulnerable while wearing this. All he had to protect him from a sniper was a basic barrier. No more armor. Though he wouldn't admit it, these clothes felt nice and smooth. Very comfortable.

Hearing the audience clapping he noticed the awards were finally being called out. Thank God. He had managed to hold it together for the speech and now they were at the last part of it. Shepard briefly looked over the audience and saw the stand with cookies and snacks on it.

"Hey," He lightly brushed Joker's elbow who looked at him. He subtly nodded over to the table which Joker noticed. "That right there is probably one of the main reasons why everyone is here. They know we want cookies, and they hold them till after the speech." Joker chuckled a little and agreed with him on that, right before he was called. Shepard waited patiently for his turn. Eventually Joker came back and his name was called.

"John Shepard." The audience's claps had died down at his name. Everyone was quiet. The speaker looked at him and Shepard saw the multiple medals beside the asari. His eyes widened briefly at them before going back to Anderson who had approached him. He began picking up the medals as Shepard straightened his posture slightly.

"For the Battle of Eden Prime, the Council awards you the Medal of Distinguished Service." He pinned a purple star on his breast. The star itself held a silver that was surrounded in a bronze circle which was held by a silver wreath.

"For your actions on Feros, the Council awards you the Medal of Heroism." He pinned a blue star surrounded by silver. It was similar to the first one save the circle was silver now.

"For your deeds on Noveria, the Council awards you the Honorarium of Corporate Service." The medal was the same as the previous save for it was gold this time with the star and wreath remaining the same.

"For your services on Virmire, the Council awards you the Merit of the Council Legion." The medal was different from the previous ones. This one was the symbol for the Council bathed in silver.

"And for your role in the Battle of the Citadel, we award the Medal of Honor." The medal was a green upside-down star. Under it was a ring made out of white metal with a small silver star at the top of it. Emboldened on the green star was a silver arch holding three stars under it. It was surrounded by ring of silver stars as well.

"The Alliance Brass has seen fit to give you some extra awards as well." Anderson spoke as another Alliance officer came and handed a box. Anderson opened the box which showed three more medals. Anderson smirked at Shepard's deadpanned expression and Shepard knew why. Pressly had mentioned that Anderson had many medals. So many in fact, that they could melt them down and make a statue of him.

"For helping the Alliance with several missions and helping us expand our resource options, we award you the Medal of Exploration." This time the medal was a four pointed gold star with the emblem of the galaxy on it.

"For the battles that were put into on our behalf, we award you the Medal for Distinguished Combat." The medal was by far the most morbid one yet. It was similar to the Medal of Honor save for the fact the main star was red, the star above it was black and instead of a silver arch with three silver stars, it was a silver star. Cool. Then Anderson brought out the final one.

"For your continued persevering through these trying times, we award you the Medal of Valor." This one was Shepard's favorite by far. It was similar to the Medal of Distinguished Combat, but more elegant. The main star was blue with a gold edge. The star on top of it was a pearl and the skull was surrounded by ten stars. For each medal given, the audience applauded. Shepard noticed that he had been given more medals than any of his team. Wrex hadn't gotten any medals because he told them he hadn't needed any. Tali got a few and said she would proudly have them on display in the Flotilla. Garrus and gotten some from his government, like Ashley and Kaidan did and also Liara.

Afterwords, everyone was allowed to go as the Award Ceremony ended. Shepard had returned the suit he was given before switching with an off-duty spacer uniform, his usual civilian clothing when on Omega. He had all of his armor and weapons in a black case, ready to be given back when he quit being a Spectre. Before he could make his way to the C-Sec Requisitions officer, he was called by Anderson to come to a meeting. Shepard walked over to where in the Presidium Anderson hold told him to come to, duffle bag slung over one shoulder while his other hand held the case by the handle. Impressive considering how heavy it was. He came to an area that had multiple Spectres. All of the others gave him nods of respect to which he returned while some also gave him looks of confusion, taking meaningful glances at his outfit and possessions. He saw Anderson and Udina there in front of the Council. So this was where they had set up. The Chamber were still in the middle of reconstruction so he wondered where they were deliberating the galactic issues they were presented with. All of them looked at him and he could tell that they had already guessed what he was up to.

"I see you were already on your way out." Udina said first.

"Not before I returned these back," Shepard lifted the case up before lowering it, "and formally resigned. Wouldn't want to have another round of galactic manhunt." The Council looked at him before someone spoke up.

"Keep them." Sparatus spoke bringing everyone's attention to him. "You may go back to the Terminus with your Spectre status active as well, Ghost. We can trust you with that considering what's happened." Everyone was shocked that Sparatus was the one saying it, and willingly too. Tevos and Valern nodded in agreement.

"I... Thank you Councilors. I appreciate it." Shepard said back. Anderson smiled at him while Udina's scowl went away. At least Humanity's First Spectre wasn't going to leave his service anytime soon.

"Now with that out of the way. Ambassador. Captain. Ghost." Tevos said getting to theater at hand. "We have gathered here to recognize the enormous contributions of the Alliance forces in the war against Sovereign and the geth." Valern picked up after her.

"Many humans lost their lives in the battle to save the Citadel, brave and courageous soldiers who willingly gave their lives so that we-the Council-might live." Sparatus continued for him.

"There is no greater sacrifice, and we share your grief over the tragic loss of so many noble men and women." Shepard looked down. He had heard that they had lost 8 Alliance cruisers with a combined crew of 2,400. He memorized the names of the ships so that he wouldn't forget them. Because it was his order and decision that got them destroyed. He won't carry that weight though. They made the choice, not him. And in doing so, they saved countless lives. Tevos got his attention as she began talking.

"The Council also owes you a great personal debt, Ghost. One we can never repay. You saved not just our lives, but the lives of billions form Sovereign and the Reapers." He saw the slight wink she gave him and he knew she had been on his side from the entire beginning. He also knew Valern had been to, if not just for the sake of caution.

"Shepard, your heroic and selfless actions serve as a symbol of everything humanity and the Alliance stand for." Sparatus picked up after Valern.

"And though we cannot bring back those valiant soldiers who gave their lives to save ours, we can honor their memories through our actions." Shepard's eyes narrowed slightly. Was this what he thought it was?

"Humanity has shown it is ready to stand as a defender and protector of the galaxy. You have proved you are worthy to join our ranks and serve beside us on the Citadel Council." Shepard's eyes widened. So it was. He knew that eventually Humanity would be given a seat, but... never this early. He didn't think he'd live to see the day. Now here he was right at the declaration. He looked to his left and saw Anderson had a somewhat shocked expression to which he covered up quickly. He looked to his right where he saw Udina had a pleased look on his face. Chances are the politician was expecting this all day today.

"Councilor on behalf of humanity and the Alliance, we thank you for this prestigious honor and humbly accept." Shepard could tell the Councilors saw through that easily. While it was pretty and humble, Shepard could detect the slight lust for power in it. Not good. He looked over to Anderson and saw the same look that had to have been on his own face. he turned back to the Council.

"We will need a list of potential candidates to fill humanity's seat on the Council." Valern said. Okay, they would play it smart, but unfortunately Shepard knew who was already at the top of the list. Udina's smug look confirmed it all. That was when he caught Tevos' gaze on him. He could see by the subtle smile she had a plan in mind.

"Given all that has happened, I am sure your recommendation will carry a great deal of weight,Ghost. Do you support any particular candidate?" Tevos asked bringing all attention to Shepard. Clever girl, so that was her plan. Bring an outside, but still close, party in. Shepard looked up in thought. He realized that both Udina and Anderson were on that list. He thought about the pros and cons. Both men could bring humanity a great amount of prosperity. But Udina would obviously be thinking of humans first and foremost. That is an ambassador's job, not something any Councilor needs, in Shepard's mind. Anderson would be fair. He was someone who would keep all the problems and threats to all races in mind and react accordingly.

"We need someone who will look after all the races protected by the Council. Someone who has the courage to stand up for what he believes in. Someone like Captain Anderson." Shepard said looking at the man in question. Anderson looked at him with a bewildered look before nodding to him with determination. Unknown to him, Tevos had a smile near imperceivable smile on her face. Valern and Sparatus also silently agreed with Shepard's choice. Valern because he knew Anderson would be fair and help maintain balance while Sparatus agreed because it would be best to have another military man on the Council over another politician.

"Him?" Udina asked as if insulted. Shepard looked at him with a neutral expression. "You must be joking. Anderson prefers to let his fists do the talking." Shepard smirked at Anderson knowing what he meant.

"Only with you, Ambassador. Only with you." Anderson said back with some amusement. Udina looked at Shepard.

"Are you sure about this, Ghost? The captain is a soldier, not a politician." Shepard looked at him neutrally before smirking.

"This is just my personal opinion Udina. We've already got too many politicians on the Citadel. The captain would be perfect for the job. Besides, I'd rather have the captain on the Council over any politician I know. But that's just me." Before Udina could retort to Shepard's jab at him Tevos cut in.

"I think it's an inspired choice. The Council would welcome him with open arms, should he accept." She said looking to Anderson. Anderson straightened, putting his hands behind his back.

"I'm honored, Councilor. As humanity's representative, I'll do everything in my power to help the Council rebuild." The Councilors nodded while Udina crossed his arms annoyed.

"Sovereign's defeat makes the beginning of anew era for both humanity and the Council." Sparatus spoke. Shepard, feeling the time for the conversation to end spoke.

"Don't start patting yourselves on the back just yet. Sovereign wasn't alone. He was only a vanguard. The rest of the Reapers are still out there. Their fleet is coming. Hundreds of ships, maybe thousands. And I'm going to find some way to stop them!" Shepard said before leaving. Anderson looked after him for a second before turning to the Council.

"Shepard's right. Humanity is ready to do its part. United with the rest of the Council, we have the strength to overcome any challenge. When the Reapers come, we must stand side by side. We must fight against them as one. And together we will drive them back into dark space!" Anderson said as Shepard walked away not looking back.

* * *

Shepard was out by the docks, waiting for the next cruiser to take him to nearest port which would take him to the Terminus. He figured he couldn't ask the Normandy Crew to take him to Omega personally. They'd deserve a rest.

"You know, I think your crew would deserve a goodbye first, Shepard." Anderson said coming up beside him. Shepard sighed.

"Yea, I know." The two sat there in silence for a few moments.

"I told them about you. Told them you'd probably not want to take advantage of their time." Anderson replied.

"Really?" Anderson nodded. "What did they say?"

"They asked if I could go get you and send you to them. That the Normandy wouldn't be right without having one last ride with her 'temporary commander'. Said they'd take you wherever you want to go, one last time. Gunnery Chief Williams and your asari friend seemed insistent on it." Shepard chuckled which made the older man chuckle along with him.

"I should have one last ride with them." Shepard said as he got up. Anderson got up with him.

"I'd join you, but unfortunately someone recommended me as a possible candidate for the Council." Shepard laughed at him.

"Yeah, but in all actuality I do believe you'd be better than Udina. Can't have humanity take a lot after being given so much so recently."

"Thank you for that. Now go, join your crew." Shepard walked to the Normandy's dock.

"Oh Shepard?" Shepard turned around to look at Anderson.

"I've gotten a request to ask you to go to a Council training facility out in Argos Rho. They've requested you and your team specifically to demonstrate how a team should perform during a firefight. Could you do it as a favor to me?" Shepard looked at him before groaning.

"Okay, give me the coordinates." Shepard said as put his case down to handle his omni-tool.

"Already gave it to Joker." Shepard's eye twitched.

"You already knew huh?" Anderson smirked at him.

"I believed you would." Shepard laughed as picked up his case before Anderson began to walk away.

"Hey, wait!" Shepard called making Anderson stop and look at him.

"What's facility called." Anderson grinned already thinking of what Shepard was going to fight against.

"Pinnacle Station." Shepard nodded and continued to the Normandy.

* * *

After making it back, and having to be lectured about giving a real goodbye, Shepard told Joker to head for Pinnacle Station. This would most likely be his last fight with his friends for a long time so he'd enjoy the time he has remaining with them before parting ways. The Normandy, with all her crew accounted for departed from the docks and left the Citadel.

At the docks, a lone figure stepped out from behind the crates. He wore heavy crimson mercenary armor. His face was masked completely with only two blue sockets in the mask to help him see. He held his hand up to his ear pressing for communications to come on.

"Captain Balak." There was nothing at first but then someone answered.

"Yes? What have you learned?"

"The Ghost has left the Citadel."

"Did you place the tracking beacon on his ship?" The mercenary nodded unconsciously as he answered.

"Yes sir. I did. You'll be able to find him after he exits the relay network."

"Excellent. Report back for further orders. Congratulations on your promotion, lieutenant."

"Thank you, Sir." The batarian mercenary got into his ship and left the Citadel intent on being part of Ka'hairal Balak's scheme.

* * *

**Well after a year, this story is over. So some of you were wondering about why I hadn't included the DLC's for the first game. Well now you know. In all honesty I hadn't expected this chapter to exceed 4,000. This was a pleasant surprise. I sincerely hope all of you who have been patient with me and been following this from the start have enjoyed this. Now I want to give a personal shout out of thanks to all who commented, and yes even the one flamer that happened.**

**So first to all anonymous guests who posted something, Thank you very much! It helped keep me going.**

**To all of you who went by name: You get to written inside the Chapter itself! So I give my personal shout-out of thanks to:**

**Kaiya Smith**

**Kitari**

**Hyper xRecon**

**Suqu124**

**The Dead Romantic**

**Blazeknight26**

**Michae1ange1o**

**dapmitidp (John Pinette is still awesome.)**

**Cerberus013**

**T-Biggz (Thanks for the continued support with DA:O Prequel as well.)**

**darkerego**

**NoOneInParticular17(Hope you came back to see the end)**

**cainchaos**

**Gillespie**

**firestarter09**

**Cf96**

**Redcollector**

**knightwolf20x**

**BROOD WARRIOR (Gives bro-fist)**

**Adjuster**

**Firespark15**

**omega shadow's**

**Delta8**

**Broconi**

**GoldenMauser30 (Thank you for tips and thoughts. Hope to see more of them later on.)**

**duke drake**

**scream sky**

**Omegas Prime**

**Thank you all for your support through this. Hope you loved this!**


	39. Announcement: New Story

OKAY! NEW STORY POSTED! IT'S NOT MASS EFFECT 2 BUT IT DOES LINK WITH MY GHOST OF THE TERMINUS SERIES! CHECK IT OUT!


	40. DON'T PUSH THAT BUTTON!

Hey I've got a new poll going out and I want you all to vote on it. I believe you will be most interested in it.


	41. It's on!

ME2: GotT is on!


	42. A favor for a friend

Hey for those of you who enjoy stories with OCs and/or multi-class characters or just like Dragon Age there is a new story that has just popped up by fellow writer and reader Omegas Prime. Please rate and support him as you all have supported me.


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